Antitrust and Balance of Interests in Standards Development – Lessons from NSS Labs. v. Symantec

By Justus Baron & Pierre Larouche

The recent decision of the District Court of the Northern District of California in NSS Labs. v. Symantec sheds light on the requirement that Standard Development Organizations (“SDO”) achieve a balance of interests in their procedures. While the court ultimately did not rule on this point, the U.S. Department of Justice intervened in the case to insist – correctly in our view – that SDOs must meet that requirement in order to benefit from protection