In advance of our Sixth Annual Fall Conference on IP for the Next Generation of Technology, we are highlighting works on the challenges brought by the revolutionary developments in mobile technology of the past fifteen years.

The development and implementation of technology standards is a complex process, and it’s one often misunderstood by commentators, courts, and government agencies. In an article detailing the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) misguided suit against Qualcomm for alleged unwillingness to license its patents on fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory (FRAND) terms, CPIP Senior Scholar Kristen Osenga exposes a pervasive ignorance of technology standards and the standard setting organizations (SSOs) that develop them.

According to Professor Osenga, the lack of sound economic evidence and evidentiary findings in the FTC’s allegations are indicative of a larger and more fundamental lack of knowledge that is negatively impacting important legal, business, and policy decisions. It’s a troubling trend that has the potential to not just hinder the development of technology standards, but innovation itself.

To read the Osenga article, which was published in the University of Louisville Law Review, please click here.