Hon. Andrei Iancu

January 29, 2021

Andrei Iancu was under secretary of commerce for intellectual property and director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, a position to which he was confirmed unanimously by the Senate. In this role, Mr. Iancu led an agency with approximately 13,000 employees and an annual budget of over $3.5 billion. He was also the principal adviser in the administration on domestic and international intellectual property (IP) policy matters. Currently, Mr. Iancu is a partner at Sullivan & Cromwell. He also co-founded earlier this year the Renewing American Innovation Project at the bipartisan Center for Strategic and International Studies. Mr. Iancu has also taught patent law at the UCLA School of Law. Earlier in his career, he was an engineer at Hughes Aircraft Company.

Understanding the U.S. Biopharmaceutical Innovation Ecosystem

August 15, 2024

By Sujai Shivakumar, Tisyaketu Sirkar, and Jeffrey Depp Introduction The biopharmaceutical innovation system—which brings novel, life-improving, and life-saving therapies from the researcher’s bench to a patient’s bedside—is a major engine powering health improvements, economic output, and wealth creation in the United States. But while the commercial and national security competition with China has

Explainer: Standard Essential Patents and National Security

July 10, 2024

By Christopher Borges Technology standards are a critical domain of international cooperation and competition in high technology. Standards create a common language for communication about technology and innovation, allowing firms to collaborate and develop interoperable products. At the same time, for some critical and emerging technologies such as telecommunications and artificial

Assessing the Patent and Trademark Office’s Inventorship Guidance for AI-Assisted Inventions

June 3, 2024

By Alexander Kersten As new applications of artificial intelligence (AI) become more sophisticated, AI tools are increasingly used to assist in the process of invention. However, given that inventorship is limited to natural persons under U.S. law, AI’s growing utilization has raised questions around whether AI-assisted inventions should receive patents,