Draft Standard-Patent Policy Draws Former Officials’ Opposition

Proposed policy changes on patents essential to industry standards threaten the standardized technology ecosystem, a bipartisan group of patent office and Justice Department antitrust leaders are warning.

A draft statement the Biden administration released in December is a “solution in search of a problem,” the former officials said in a comment submitted to the Justice Department. The officials argue the new approach targets theoretical concerns while tipping the scales against owners of standard-essential patents, or SEPs.

Andrei Iancu, the patent office director under President Donald Trump, as well as Michelle Lee and David Kappos, both of whom led the patent ...