Economists INK: A Brief Analysis of Policy and Litigation

This issue discusses distributed energy resources (“DERs”) and the design of new regulatory models for electric distribution, possible changes in the Department of Justice’s (“DOJ”) competition policy regarding standard setting organizations (“SSOs”), and the Federal Communications Commission’s (“FCC”) proposed regulatory framework for the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (“CBRS”).  Ms. Nieto discusses the economic factors that should be considered in the design of new regulatory models for electric distribution.  Dr. Stoner discusses recent remarks by AAG Makan Delrahim concerning conduct between patent holders and technology implementers in the context of SSOs and standard essential patents (“SEPs”).  If DOJ implements a different approach to SSO restrictions on a patent holder’s right to exclude, this could potentially result in challenges to SSO practices that had been condoned in prior DOJ business review letters.  Dr. Bono discusses two of the major economic issues in the FCC’s design of the CBRS framework:  geographic license areas and license terms.  Whether the FCC can align the goals of access by a wide range of stakeholders and allocative efficiency will depend on the specifics of the rules concerning geographic license areas and license terms.

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