Biden Signals Shift Toward Tech on Standard Essential Patents

President Joe Biden’s administration has made several moves breaking from the previous administration’s approach to standard-essential patents, charting a course more favorable to Apple Inc. and other companies wanting to pay lower royalties on critical technologies.

Makan Delrahim, the Justice Department’s head of antitrust under Donald Trump, was an ally to patent owners, taking the view that antitrust law has a limited role in licensing disputes over patents essential to telecommunications and other industry standards.

The pendulum is starting to swing back toward companies that use the patented technologies and toward efforts to make standard-essential patents more accessible.

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