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US: David Balto study makes patent pool warning

By  |  May 10, 2013

A report released by former FTC Policy Director for the Bureau of Competition David Balto is warning of potential anticompetitive effects of patent pools, the adverse effect of their intended aid to encourage innovation. The report, Barriers to Competition on the Innovation Superhighway: How the Lack of Antitrust Scrutiny of Patent Pools Deters Competition, suggests that price-fixing and markets lacking in diversity may result from patent pools, despite some potential benefits. According to Balto, a “lack of antitrust enforcement” is causing those pools to force higher prices on consumers without added innovation. Balto additionally calls on the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice to increase their scrutiny of the patent pools to avoid such anticompetitive effects.

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