IAM Magazine: US antitrust chief speech “marks a major pro-IP and pro-innovator shift in DOJ policy,” by Richard Llloyd
This post originally appeared in IAM Magazine on November 16, 2017.
In a speech that signalled a new approach inside the US government with regards to the interplay between antitrust and IP, the Department of Justice’s antitrust head Makan Delrahim has called for greater scrutiny of hold-out in licensing negotiations and criticised the current inability of holders of standard essential patents (SEPs) to get injunctions.
Delrahim, who was confirmed by the Senate in late September and is the first head of the DOJ’s competition watchdog to be a registered patent attorney, was speaking at an event late last week at the University of Southern California’s Gould School of Law. His comments suggest that after eight years of an Obama administration that encouraged the strong application of antitrust laws in the policing of SEP licensing, the Trump White House is preparing to markedly change tack.