In remarks on September 29, 2021, a senior official from the Department of Justice Antitrust Division (DOJ) outlined the agency’s shift in approach to issues surrounding technology industry standards. The remarks foreshadowed...more
I’ve written here before about the broad adverse effects of the 2015 IEEE patent-devaluing policy. In September this year, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) also picked up on these effects in a supplemental business review...more
Last year, I described the broad negative and anticompetitive consequences of the IEEE’s 2015 patent policy, and was pleased to see the U.S. Department of Justice’s important 2020 Business Review Letter to IEEE (“DOJ BRL”)...more
On September 10, the antitrust division of US Department of Justice (DOJ) took the unusual step of revising a 2015 business review letter it had sent to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)....more
Earlier this month the U.S. Department of Justice issued an updated Business Review Letter (BRL) for the IEEE patent policy. The new letter offers an important clarification on how antitrust analysis of standards...more
Last Thursday, September 10, 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division (“DOJ”) issued an updated Business Review Letter (“2020 Letter”) to the Institute of Electrical Electronics Engineers, Incorporated...more
U.S. antitrust agencies have jointly announced that they are encouraging certain competitor collaborations in response to the COVID-19 epidemic, and that—although antitrust laws remain in force—the agencies will provide...more
Recently, the Department of Justice issued a business review letter (BRL) relating to Avanci’s proposed 5G licensing platform for patents declared as potentially essential owned by its globally diverse thirty eight...more
In response to the current pandemic, antitrust enforcers at the Department of Justice have been issuing business review letters at record pace. One of these business review letters addressed an inquiry from the pork industry...more
Many clients have asked about the state of federal antitrust enforcement during the current pandemic. We can tell you this: the Agencies are taking longer to clear or challenge deals, but the level of antitrust enforcement,...more
On April 4, 2020, the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice issued its first Business Review Letter under the DOJ-FTC joint expedited COVID-19 competitor collaboration review procedures, blessing several medical...more