Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST NEWS: FTC seeks additional public comments on patent assertion entity study, (May 14, 2014)

The FTC announced yesterday that it is issuing a second Federal Register notice (FRN), containing the revised proposed information requests for its study on patent assertion entities (PAEs) for clearance from the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The second FRN calls for additional public comments as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act. The FTC’s study is designed to develop a better understanding of how PAEs may impact innovation and competition.

PAEs are firms with a business model based primarily on buying patents and then attempting to generate revenue by asserting them against businesses that are already practicing the patented technologies. The FTC is conducting the study in order to further one of its key missions—to examine cutting-edge competition and consumer protection topics that may have a significant effect on the U.S. economy.

The study was first announced on September 27, 2013. The FTC received 70 comments in response to an initial Federal Register notice, seeking public input on the usefulness and burden of the proposed information collection requests.

The majority of commenters expressed support for the study. Some commenters recommended revisions to the study’s scope, and some suggested revisions to reduce the burden on the businesses that would be asked to provide information. No commenter opposed the study

The FTC has carefully considered and implemented many of these suggestions in order to sharpen the focus of the study and reduce its likely burden on study respondents. In particular, the Commission: (1) worked with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to minimize the collection of publicly available patent data from study respondents; (2) clarified that the study will include two case studies: one describing PAE activity generally, and one that compares PAE assertion activity to that of manufacturers and non-practicing entities in the wireless chipset sector; (3) simplified and narrowed many study questions, and created a spreadsheet that will enable study respondents to more easily respond to the information requests; (4) narrowed the study timeframe by one year; and (5) made several other changes to collect information that is most important for the study.

The second FRN includes all specific changes to the information requests and informs the public that the FTC is seeking OMB clearance.

Comments on the proposed study can be submitted electronically here. The second FRN will be published shortly. Submissions are due 30 days from the date the second FRN is published.

The Commission vote approving the second Federal Register notice was 5-0

News: Antitrust FederalTradeCommissionNews