**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AT**

**THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 2004 (202) 514-2007**

**WWW.USDOJ.GOV TDD (202) 514-1888**

**JUSTICE DEPARTMENT IMPLEMENTS THE STANDARDS**

**DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION ADVANCEMENT ACT OF 2004**

***New Law Extends Liability Limitation To***

***Standards Development Organizations That File For Protection***

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Department of Justice today released a statement
by R. Hewitt Pate,

Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division,
regarding the Standards

Development Organization Advancement Act of 2004 (SDOAA), which extends
the protections

provided by the National Cooperative Research and Production Act of 1993
(NCRPA) to

standards development organizations (SDOs).

The NCRPA provides that certain joint ventures will have their antitrust
liability assessed

under the rule of reason, and that special rules for attorneys***'***
fees apply in antitrust cases

challenging certain joint ventures. In addition, it permits parties
participating in joint research,

development, and production ventures to limit their possible antitrust
damage exposure to actual,

as opposed to treble, damages by filing a notification with the
Department and the Federal Trade

Commission (FTC). The SDOAA permits standards development organizations
to obtain the

same protections provided to certain joint ventures by the NCRPA.

\"Standards development organizations develop technical standards that
are essential to the

efficient functioning of our national economy. Congress has determined
that the threat of treble

damages pressures SDOs to restrict their standards development
activities at a great cost to the

United States. The Standards Development Organization Advancement Act of
2004 relieves

SDOs from certain antitrust concerns and facilitates the development of
pro-competitive

standards,\" said Pate.

On June 22, 2004, President Bush signed into law H.R. 1086, which
includes the Standards

Development Organization Advancement Act of 2004 (the Act). This Act
amends provisions of

the National Cooperative Research and Production Act of 1993, which
affords certain antitrust

protections to joint ventures engaged in research, development, and
production, to extend the

same antitrust protections to standards development organizations (SDOs)
while those

organizations are engaged in standards development activity. The Act
states that the term SDO

does not include parties participating in the SDO.

The Act provides that the antitrust rule of reason applies to SDOs while
they are engaged

in standards development activities, and provides special rules for
attorneys' fees in any antitrust

case challenging a SDOs standards development activity. The Act also
provides SDOs with the

\- 2 -

opportunity to limit their antitrust liability for standards development
activities to actual, as

opposed to treble, damages. The rule of reason and attorneys' fees
provisions of the Act

automatically apply to all SDOs covered by the Act. However, SDOs must
file a proper

notification with the Department and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
to obtain the liability

limiting protections provided by the Act. Proper notifications should:

\(1\) be filed not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of
the Act, or 90

days after commencing a standards development activity engaged in for
the purpose of

developing or promulgating voluntary consensus standards;

\(2\) disclose the name of the SDO and its principal place of business;

\(3\) provide documents showing the nature and scope of the standards
development

activity;

\(4\) contain two copies of all documents submitted to the Department
and one copy of

all documents submitted to the FTC;

\(5\) be delivered to the Department and the FTC at the following
addresses:

Department of Justice

Antitrust Division

Office of Operations

Patrick Henry Building

601 D St., NW Room 10-013

Washington, DC 20530

FEDEX Zip Code: 20004

Federal Trade Commission

Bureau of Competition

Office of Policy and Coordination

600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Room 392

Washington, DC 20580

Any SDO may file additional notifications as are appropriate to extend
the protections to

standards development activities that are not covered by the initial
filing or that have changed

significantly since the initial filing.

Promptly after receiving a proper notification, the Department or the
FTC will publish a

notice in the Federal Register that identifies the SDO and describes its
standards development

activities in general terms. The Department or the FTC will make the
notice available to the

filing SDO before publishing it in the Federal Register. Notifications
may be withdrawn before

\- 3 -

publication in the Federal Register; however, no SDO will receive the
liability limiting

protections of the Act if its notification is withdrawn before
publication.

To facilitate publication in the Federal Register, SDOs may provide the
Department and

the FTC with a draft notice. In addition, SDOs should provide the name
and contact information

of the person or persons authorized to approve the proposed notice.

\###

04-443