ANTITRUST ANALYSIS OF TECHNOLOGY JOINT VENTURES: ALLOCATIVE EFFICIENCY AND THE REWARDS OF INNOVATION

The terms joint venture, strategic alliance, and industry consortium have gained prominence in recent years as shorthand prescriptions for enhancing the competitiveness of the United States in global markets. The focus of attention has been on collaborative ventures in high technology industries, both because of the association that is drawn almost reflexively between high technology and competitiveness and because the joint venture format may be particularly useful for overcoming certain impediments to innovation in high technology markets. Advocates of high technology joint ventures tend to be critical of the antitrust laws, charging that fear of antitrust liability inhibits the formation of procompetitive collaborative ventures. For this reason, support of collaborative ventures is usually coupled with calls for reduced antitrust enforcement in the joint venture area.