FTC Seeks Cert in Rambus

Cite this Article
Joshua D. Wright, FTC Seeks Cert in Rambus, Truth on the Market (November 25, 2008), https://truthonthemarket.com/2008/11/25/ftc-seeks-cert-in-rambus/

The press release is here.  The petition is here.  The questions presented, as framed by the Commission are:

1. Whether deceptive conduct that significantly contributes to a defendant’s acquisition of monopoly power violates Section 2 of the Sherman Act.

2. Whether deceptive conduct that distorts the competitive process in a market, with the effect of avoiding the imposition of pricing constraints that would otherwise exist because of that process, is anticompetitive under Section 2 of the Sherman Act.

The FTC also argues that the D.C. Circuit’s decision is “at odds” with the Third Circuit’s analysis in Broadcom which creates a “conflict” on causation issues related to competitive harm which “cuts to the core of the analysis of harm to the competitive process.”  Commentary later.