H. R. 1313
One Hundred Third Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE FIRST SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
the fifth day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-three
An Act
To amend the National Cooperative Research Act of 1984 with respect to joint
ventures entered into for the purpose of producing a product, process, or service.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Cooperative Production
Amendments of 1993’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—
(1) technological innovation and its profitable commer-
cialization are critical components of the ability of the United
States to raise the living standards of Americans and to compete
in world markets;
(2) 
cooperative 
arrangements 
among 
nonaffiliated
businesses in the private sector are often essential for successful
technological innovation; and
(3) the antitrust laws may have been mistakenly perceived
to inhibit procompetitive cooperative innovation arrangements,
and so clarification serves a useful purpose in helping to pro-
mote such arrangements.
(b) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this Act to promote innova-
tion, facilitate trade, and strengthen the competitiveness of the
United States in world markets by clarifying the applicability of
the rule of reason standard and establishing a procedure under
which businesses may notify the Department of Justice and Federal
Trade Commission of their cooperative ventures and thereby qualify
for a single-damages limitation on civil antitrust liability.
SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS.
(a) SHORT
TITLE.—Section 1 of the National Cooperative
Research Act of 1984 (15 U.S.C. 4301 note) is amended by striking
‘‘National Cooperative Research Act of 1984’’ and inserting
‘‘National Cooperative Research and Production Act of 1993’’.
(b) DEFINITION.—Section 2(a)(6) of the National Cooperative
Research Act of 1984 (15 U.S.C. 4301(a)(6)) is amended—
(1) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A) by striking
‘‘research and development’’;
(2) in subparagraph (D) by inserting ‘‘or production’’ after
‘‘research’’;
(3) in subparagraph (E) by striking ‘‘and (D)’’ and inserting
‘‘(D), (E), and (F)’’;
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(4) by redesignating subparagraphs (D) and (E) as subpara-
graphs (F) and (G), respectively;
(5) by inserting after subparagraph (C) the following:
‘‘(D) the production of a product, process, or service,
‘‘(E) the testing in connection with the production of
a product, process, or service by such venture,’’; and
(6) by striking ‘‘research’’ the last place it appears and
inserting ‘‘such venture’’.
(c) EXCLUSIONS.—Section 2(b) of the National Cooperative
Research Act of 1984 (15 U.S.C. 4301(b)) is amended—
(1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1) by striking
‘‘research and development’’;
(2) in paragraph (1) by striking ‘‘that is not reasonably
required to conduct the research and development that is’’
and inserting ‘‘if such information is not reasonably required
to carry out’’;
(3) by amending paragraph (2) to read as follows:
‘‘(2) entering into any agreement or engaging in any other
conduct restricting, requiring, or otherwise involving the
marketing, distribution, or provision by any person who is
a party to such venture of any product, process, or service,
other than—
‘‘(A) the distribution among the parties to such venture,
in accordance with such venture, of a product, process,
or service produced by such venture,
‘‘(B) the marketing of proprietary information, such
as patents and trade secrets, developed through such ven-
ture formed under a written agreement entered into before
the date of the enactment of the National Cooperative
Production Amendments of 1993, or
‘‘(C) the licensing, conveying, or transferring of intellec-
tual property, such as patents and trade secrets, developed
through such venture formed under a written agreement
entered into on or after the date of the enactment of the
National Cooperative Production Amendments of 1993,’’;
(4) in paragraph (3)—
(A) in subparagraph (A) by striking ‘‘or developments
not developed through’’ and inserting ‘‘, developments, prod-
ucts, processes, or services not developed through, or pro-
duced by,’’;
(B) in subparagraph (B) by striking ‘‘such party’’ and
inserting ‘‘any person who is a party to such venture’’;
and
(C) by striking the period at the end and inserting
a comma; and
(5) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(4) entering into any agreement or engaging in any other
conduct allocating a market with a competitor,
‘‘(5) exchanging information among competitors relating
to production (other than production by such venture) of a
product, process, or service if such information is not reasonably
required to carry out the purpose of such venture,
‘‘(6) entering into any agreement or engaging in any other
conduct restricting, requiring, or otherwise involving the
production (other than the production by such venture) of a
product, process, or service,
H. R. 1313—3
‘‘(7) using existing facilities for the production of a product,
process, or service by such venture unless such use involves
the production of a new product or technology, and
‘‘(8) except as provided in paragraphs (2), (3), and (6),
entering into any agreement or engaging in any other conduct
to restrict or require participation by any person who is a
party to such venture, in any unilateral or joint activity that
is not reasonably required to carry out the purpose of such
venture.’’.
(d) RULE OF REASON STANDARD.—Section 3 of the National
Cooperative Research Act of 1984 (15 U.S.C. 4302) is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘research and development’’ the first place
it appears;
(2) by striking ‘‘and development’’ the last place it appears
and inserting ‘‘, development, product, process, and service’’;
and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘For the purpose of determining a properly defined, relevant market,
worldwide capacity shall be considered to the extent that it may
be appropriate in the circumstances.’’.
(e) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—The National
Cooperative Research Act of 1984 (15 U.S.C. 4301 et seq.) is
amended—
(1) in section 4—
(A) in subsections (a)(1), (b)(1), (c)(1), and (e) by strik-
ing ‘‘research and development’’ each place it appears;
(B) in subsections (a), (b), and (c) by inserting ‘‘of
this section’’ after ‘‘subsection (d)’’ each place it appears;
and
(C) in subsection (e) by striking ‘‘the effective date
of this Act’’ and inserting ‘‘October 11, 1984,’’; and
(2) in section 5(a) in the matter preceding paragraph (1)
by striking ‘‘research and development’’.
(f) DISCLOSURE.—Section 6 of the National Cooperative
Research Act of 1984 (15 U.S.C. 4305) is amended—
(1) in the heading by striking ‘‘RESEARCH AND DEVELOP-
MENT’’;
(2) in subsection (a)—
(A) by striking ‘‘the date of the enactment of this
Act’’ and inserting ‘‘October 11, 1984’’;
(B) in paragraph (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end;
(C) in paragraph (2) by striking the period at the
end and inserting ‘‘, and’’; and
(D) by inserting the following after paragraph (2):
‘‘(3) if a purpose of such venture is the production of a
product, process, or service, as referred to in section 2(a)(6)(D),
the identity and nationality of any person who is a party
to such venture, or who controls any party to such venture
whether separately or with one or more other persons acting
as a group for the purpose of controlling such party.’’; and
(3) in subsections (a), (d)(2), and (e) by striking ‘‘research
and development’’ each place it appears.
(g) LIMITATION.—The National Cooperative Research Act of
1984 (15 U.S.C. 4301 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end
the following: