The recent assertion of patents originally held by Theranos, the defunct blood analysis company whose founders are under federal indictment for fraud, highlights the existence of patents that claim non-existent and inoperative inventions. While such patents may ultimately be subject to validity...

On May 5, 2021, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced that the U.S. would support a “waiver of IP protections on COVID-19 vaccines to help end the pandemic” currently being discussed at the World Trade Organization (WTO). The unprecedented U.S. support of the proposed WTO IP...

In the United States, national policy regarding standardization, and especially patents covering standardized products (standards-essential patents, or SEPs) is in a state of disarray. No single U.S. federal agency has authority over national policy toward standardization, nor does a coherent...

Litigation relating to fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) licensing of patents essential to industry standards has recently seen a sharp increase in cross-jurisdictional competition fueled by the trend of courts in some jurisdictions (particularly China) to seek to establish FRAND...