Lutnick’s Inventor Past Offers Glimpse Into Commerce Patent Role

Howard Lutnick, the Wall Street executive in line to run the Commerce Department and champion tariffs in the Trump administration, also has a lesser-known persona: inventor.

Lutnick’s name appears on more than 800 patents and patent applications worldwide and more than 400 active or expired patents in the US alone, making the billionaire CEO of brokerage firm Cantor Fitzgerald among the most prolific US inventors in the modern era.

That sets him apart from previous appointees to the Commerce Department, which oversees the US Patent and Trademark Office—the government agency responsible for granting patents to companies seeking to protect their ...