Podcast: IP(DC): 5G for the C-Suite: Patent Hold-Up or Hold-Out?
On June 3, 2024, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) Director Kathi Vidal and Chief Executive Officer of the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) Adam Williams signed...more
The Eastern District of Texas recently addressed two significant issues related to fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) negotiations under French law; namely, whether: (1) an implementer is entitled to damages...more
The Impact of SEPs on EV Design and Development - Historically, issues with Standard-Essential Patents (“SEPs”) involved the information technology industries and did not heavily impact the automotive industry. That is...more
The uncertainty surrounding standard essential patent (SEP) licensing persisted in 2022 and shows little sign of clearing in 2023. SEPs must be licensed to technology implementers on fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory...more
In response to a petition for panel rehearing, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit withdrew its prior decision finding that an automotive parts supplier did not have constitutional standing to pursue an antitrust...more
The Fifth Circuit recently ratified the right of holders of standard essential patents (“SEP”) to choose where in the supply chain to license SEPs and dealt a blow to the “hold up” narrative advanced by some implementers. In...more
The lithium-ion battery, introduced commercially in 1991, revolutionized the consumer electronics industry. Compared with older battery technologies, the lithium-ion battery was lightweight and compact, had high energy...more
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
The recent anti-suit injunction issued against InterDigital in its SEP litigation with Xiaomi is a somewhat predictable reaction to the recent UK Supreme Court decision against Huawei and ZTE. One of the central arguments...more
If the September 2020 Continental Automotive Systems, Inc. opinion is any indicator, the answer seems to be “yes,” at least where an alleged violation of fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory (“FRAND”) terms and conditions...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
In a highly unusual move, the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division (DOJ) recently filed a statement of interest in the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)’s unfair competition case against Qualcomm....more
On January 11, 2019, the U.S. DOJ Antitrust Division (Division) filed a Notice of Intent to File a Statement of Interest in a lawsuit filed by u-blox against Interdigital in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District...more
In a December 7 speech before the Berkeley-Stanford Advanced Patent Law Institute, the US Department of Justice Antitrust Division (DOJ) Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim (AAG Delrahim) announced that the DOJ will...more
Recent public statements from Makan Delrahim, Assistant United States Attorney General for the Antitrust Division at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), and Joseph Simons, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman, indicate...more
• Assistant Attorney General (AAG) Makan Delrahim, the new head of the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ), recently announced a shift from the prior Administration’s focus on the dangers of patent “hold-up”...more
The public version of ALJ Shaw’s Initial Determination (ID) in U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) investigation Certain Magnetic Data Storage Tapes and Cartridges Containing the Same, Inv. No. 337-TA-1012 (1012...more
On July 30 the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a significant appellate decision that provides guidance regarding obligations imposed on licensors of patents that are required to comply with interoperability...more
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairwoman Edith Ramirez took the unusual step on July 13, 2015, of filing a written submission on her own behalf — and expressly not on behalf of her agency — in Investigation No. 337-TA-613,...more
Standard essential patent (SEP) owners have long licensed their patent portfolios, including both SEPs and non-SEPs, on a global basis. But recent divergence, including in China and other jurisdictions, regarding what royalty...more