U.S. ANTITRUST POLICY, INTERFACE COMPATIBILITY STANDARDS, AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Thomas Hemphill, Strategic Management and Public Policy, The George Washington University, and Nicholas Vonortas, Center for International Science and Technology Policy & Department of Economics, The George Washington University

1/01/2005
(Original Publish Date: 2003)

To be a player in the international standards-setting arena of network industries, such as those dealing with information technology, reaching an early domestic consensus for a critical interoperable technology design is often essential. While in most cases efficient outcomes emerge through the market-driven, U.S. technology standards system, there have been situations where a timely consensus has failed to be attained with negative consequences for the international competitiveness of the U.S. economy (e.g., second generation of cellular telephony). An anticipatory policy approach, based on a standards competition which takes into consideration antitrust and intellectual property rights, is proposed as a solution.