[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 130 (Friday, July 6, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40085-40086]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-16509]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Antitrust Division


Notice Pursuant to the National Cooperative Research and 
Production Act of 1993--FDI Cooperation LLC

    Notice is hereby given that, on June 6, 2012, pursuant to Section 
6(a) of the National Cooperative Research and Production Act of 1993, 
15 U.S.C. 4301 et seq. (``the Act''), FDI Cooperation LLC (``FDI'') has 
filed written notifications simultaneously with the Attorney General 
and the Federal Trade Commission disclosing (1) the identities of the 
parties to the venture and (2) the nature and objectives of the 
venture. The notifications were filed for the purpose of invoking the 
Act's provisions limiting the recovery of antitrust plaintiffs to 
actual damages under specified circumstances.
    Pursuant to Section 6(b) of the Act, the identities of the parties 
to the venture are: FDT Group, AISBL, Jodoigne, BELGIUM; Fieldbus 
Foundation, Austin, TX; HART Communication Foundation, Austin, TX; 
PROFIBUS Nutzerorganisation e. V., Karlsruhe, GERMANY; OPC Foundation, 
Scottsdale, AZ; ABB Automation GmbH, Mannheim, GERMANY; Emerson Process 
Management LLLP, Round Rock, TX; Endress+Hauser Process Solutions AG, 
Reinach, SWITZERLAND; Honeywell International Inc., Phoenix, AZ; 
Invensys Systems Inc., Foxboro, MA; Siemens AG, Karlsruhe, GERMANY; 
Yokogawa Electric Corporation, Tokyo, JAPAN; ifak e. V., Magdeburg, 
GERMANY; and Smar Equipamentos Industriais Ltda., Sao Paulo, BRAZIL.
    The general area of FDI's planned activity is to develop, 
distribute, and maintain the FDI Specification and FDI Tools and 
Components and to maintain the IEC EDDL specification (IEC 61804-3 and 
-4). The parties want the FDI Specifications itself to be independent 
of any specific communication protocol and to be applied in conjunction 
with various communication and configuration technologies provided by 
the foundation participants (FDT Group, AISBL; Fieldbus Foundation; 
HART Communication Foundation; PROFIBUS Nutzerorganisation e. V.; and 
OPC Foundation) to their members. (These foundations own the joint 
venture; the remaining participants are not owners.) To support the 
adoption and implementation of the FDI Specification, and ensure 
interoperability and reduce implementation costs, the Company will 
develop and license or have licensed the

[[Page 40086]]

FDI Tools and Components. The FDI Specification shall be marketed, 
promoted, and licensed to third parties through FDI's member 
foundations. FDI currently includes four working groups: (i) 
Specifications: This working group develops the technical 
specifications. The FDI Specification created by this working group has 
been submitted to the IEC standardization process. (ii) Tools and 
Components: This working group focuses on developing the requirements 
for the tools that will be created. The output of this working group is 
a set of requirements and a ``Request for Proposal'' (RFP) that will be 
issued to interested parties that will bid on the work. This working 
group will facilitate review of those bids, and after the deliverables 
are received, will facilitate acceptance testing. (iii) Tools and 
Architecture: This working group will manage the development of those 
tools and their incorporation into a complete toolset. (iv) EDDL 
Maintenance: The EDDL team was established to help IEC SC65A WG7 in 
maintaining the standards (IEC 61804 ``EDDL'') on which the FDI 
Specifications are based. Further information about FDI is available at 
http://www.fdi-cooperation.com/.

Patricia A. Brink,
Director of Civil Enforcement, Antitrust Division.
[FR Doc. 2012-16509 Filed 7-5-12; 8:45 am]
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