The recent COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has raised numerous legal issues around the world. In this series of posts, Professor Jorge Contreras of the University of Utah (Salt Lake City, USA) discusses some of the patent and other intellectual property law implications arising from coronavirus and efforts to contain, diagnose and cure it.
Beginning in November 2017, Makan Delrahim, head of the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division, signaled that he would reverse many of the DOJ’s prior positions regarding technical standardization and, especially, patents covering technical standards (so-called Standards Essential Patents or SEPs) (the 2017 announcement is discussed in detail here). The latest step in this DOJ reversal of direction came in December 2018, when Mr. Delrahim announced that the DOJ would withdraw from a 2013 joint Policy Statement that the DOJ issued with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). The DOJ’s unexpected withdrawal from the Joint Policy Statement has prompted significant reactions within the industries affected by standardization, including statements of strong support for the DOJ’s new position by an inventors’ alliance and a coalition of large SEP holders, and statements urging the DOJ’s reconsideration by the American Antitrust Institute (AAI) [note: the author serves on the Advisory Board of the AAI] and a coalition of technology companies.
Authors: Jorge L. Contreras and Rohini Lakshané Abstract: Though India has the second-largest wireless subscriber base in the world, with more than 150 mobile device vendors, it has, until recently, remained relatively unaffected by the global smartphone wars. Over the…
This Briefing Paper was produced in conjunction with the American University Washington College of Law Patent Policy Forum being held on Nov. 8, 2013. The Forum will explore current proposals to amend U.S. patent law to address issues surrounding non-practicing…
Authors: Charles R. McManis and Jorge Contreras Abstract: The chapter discusses the statutory and treaty basis for compulsory patent licensing, briefly reviews instances in which compulsory licenses have been issued, surveys the economic rationale behind compulsory licensing and compares the…
There has been a surge of interest lately in commitments to license patents on terms that are “fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory” (FRAND). The patents at issue in these cases often cover industry standards that were developed in collaborative trade associations…
How can the federal agency created to protect U.S. manufacturers from foreign knock-offs now block sales by America’s largest tech company? Because it can. The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), a once-sleepy tribunal that, until recently, devoted its time to…