Obama Administration Antitrust Enforcers Take Last-Minute IP Licensing Actions

David Kully is a Partner in the Washington D.C. office and Ieuan Mahony is a Partner in the Boston office

HIGHLIGHTS:

• In the closing days of the Obama Administration, its antitrust enforcement agencies issued Antitrust Guidelines for the Licensing of Intellectual Property, reaffirming their views that IP licensing is usually procompetitive, but identifying some practices that rightsholders should avoid.
• The FTC also sued Qualcomm over its licensing of patents essential to complying with standards for cellular communications, but its aggressive enforcement positions might not be pursued by the incoming Trump Administration.
• Owners of patents, copyrights and other IP should be aware of the limitations that the antitrust laws place on their licensing activities.