SEP Essentials

In March of 2025, the then Acting Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Coke Stewart, instituted a policy of “Discretionary Decisions” for inter-partes review (“IPR”) proceedings.[1] With the stroke of a pen, the Interim/Acting Director became the sole person with the power to determine which IPRs would be granted, and which denied. When John Squires took over as the Director of the USPTO in September of 2025, he continued this policy.[2] So, rather tha

I recently wrote about the 2026 Office of the United States Trade Representative Special 301 Report (“Report”) (see, 2026 USTR 301 Report). The Report claimed that Licensing Negotiation Groups (LNGs) are a “concerning development” that could harm competition. Not once, however, did the Report identify the much more concerning development of large patent pools that seek injunctions against implementers. So, let’s take another dive into competition law and the competition la