Antitrust Compliance Guidelines

HDMI FORUM, INC.

Updated March 26, 2020

The Forum intends to conduct its affairs in compliance with the antitrust laws of the United States and, whenever applicable, the antitrust laws of the states within the United States and the antitrust/competition laws of the European Union and its member states, the European Economic area and its members states, and of Korea, Japan and all other countries/territories where the Forum may do business or to the laws of which the Forum may become subject (generally, "Antitrust Laws"). The Antitrust Laws are intended to preserve and promote free, fair and open competition. This competition benefits consumers and companies that are innovative and efficient. A violation of the Antitrust Laws can have serious consequences for consumers, the Forum, for Members, and for other participants in Forum-sponsored activities. Accordingly, the Forum hereby issues the following guidelines (“Guidelines”) for itself, its Members, and other participants, as guidance in connection with participation in the Forum’s activities.

The activities of the Forum are not intended to restrain competition. The purpose of the Forum is to foster competition and to benefit consumers.
The Forum and its committees, Working Groups or activities shall not be used for the purpose of bringing about or attempting to bring about any understanding or agreement, written or oral, formal or informal, express or implied, between and among competitors with regard to their prices, terms or conditions of sale, distribution, volume of production, territories, customers, strategic, business, marketing or product development plans, or credit terms.
In connection with participation in the Forum, there shall be no discussion, communication, agreement or disclosure among Members or other participants that are actual or potential competitors, regarding their prices, discounts or terms or conditions of sale or licensing of products or services, pricing methods, profits, profit margins or cost data, production plans, market shares, sales territories or markets, allocation of territories or customers, or any limitation on the timing, cost or volume of their research, production, strategic, business, marketing or product development plans, or sales.
Each Member and participant is obligated and expected to exercise its independent business judgment in pricing its services or products, dealing with its customers and suppliers, and choosing the markets in which it will compete.
The Forum and its Members and other participants, in connection with their participation in the Forum and Forum-sponsored activities, shall not enter into any agreement or understanding among themselves to refrain, or to encourage others to refrain, from purchasing any raw materials, product, equipment, services or other supplies from any supplier or vendor or from dealing with any supplier or vendor.
The Forum and its Members and other participants, in connection with their participation in the Forum and Forum-sponsored activities, shall not attempt to prevent any person from gaining access to any market or customer for goods and services, or attempt to prevent any person from obtaining a supply of goods or services or otherwise purchasing goods or services freely in the market. (This paragraph is not intended to preclude a Member or other participant from disclosing and asserting its intellectual property rights).
The qualifications for participation in the Forum are as established by the Board of Directors of the Forum. No applicant for participation, which meets the qualifications therefor, shall be denied participation for any anti-competitive purpose. No Member shall be excluded from a working group of the Forum for an anti-competitive reason.
To the extent that the Forum recommends, develops, promulgates, approves, or adopts proposed standards, implementation of any such proposed standards shall be voluntary on the part of Members, and shall in no way be compelled or coerced by the Forum or any committee or Member, it being solely a voluntary and unilateral decision on the part of the particular Member or Members whether to implement any such proposed standard.
Any standards which may be recommended, developed, promulgated, approved, or adopted by the Forum in order to effectuate its purposes shall be based upon relevant considerations, and shall not be based upon any effort, intention, or purpose to unreasonably reduce or eliminate competition in the sale, supply and furnishing of products and services.
The Forum may condition use of its trademark on compliance with standards developed to regulate the use of and to protect such mark. The Forum reserves the right to take appropriate action against any person or entity which engages in false or misleading advertising regarding use of or compliance with standards of the Forum.
No person is authorized to make an official or a public statement on behalf of the Forum regarding whether a particular product complies or does not comply with an approved standard, unless such authority is specifically conferred in writing by the Board of Directors.
During the course of the activities of the Forum, no Member or other participant will disclose any information to any other Member or other participant that is not reasonably related to the purposes of the Forum.
The Forum and each Member or other participant, in connection with the activities of the Forum, shall use their best reasonable efforts to comply in all respects with the Antitrust Laws.
These Guidelines are conservative and intended to promote compliance with the Antitrust Laws, not to create duties or obligations beyond what the Antitrust Laws actually require. In the event of inconsistency between these Guidelines and the Antitrust Laws, the Antitrust Laws shall control.
These Guidelines shall be promulgated to all Members and other participants in Forum-sponsored activities. All Members and other participants shall abide by these Guidelines.