The following is not meant to be legal advice.
The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice on
The report discusses the agencies' competition views with respect to intellectual property, including refusals to license patents, intellectual property licensing, collaborative standard setting, patent pooling, the tying of intellectual property rights.
The agencies will analyze antitrust and intellectual property under the rule of reason, considering efficiencies of a particular activity as well as any anticompetitive effects it may create.
The report begins with an analysis of unilateral refusals to license patents. The report finds that Section 271(d)(4) of the Patent Act does not create antitrust immunity for unilateral refusals to license patents. Antitrust liability for mere unilateral, unconditional refusals to license patents will not be a meaningful part in patent rights and antitrust protections.
The report describes the benefits to efficiency and innovation that can be derived from standard-setting organizations, and then examines intellectual property licensing practices, including portfolio cross-licenses. The report concludes by looking at practices that extend market power conferred by a patent beyond the statutory term. 
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