The FTC and IP

As a follow-up to yesterday's post on the intersection of intellectual property and antitrust, I received the following feedback from Steve Lozan:

Since 1996 the FTC has affirmed every major decision that their Administrative Law Judge has decided except in three instances. Each case was a patent case. The FTC hates IP, hates patent continuations, and thinks that any IP that harms competition should be placed in the public domain.

Of the three cases…

• Schering won their appeal
• Unocal was forced to settle to consummate a merger
• Rambus has filed appeal in DC circuit - FTC response brief due November 21st

See Download FTC-decisions.pdf  for case list.