Historically, new presidents often appoint officials that make modest policy changes to antitrust enforcement. President Joe Biden's July 9 executive order on promoting competition in the American economy suggested that the changes coming to antitrust enforcement are far more than modest. According to the fact sheet that accompanied the order, competition in the U.S. economy is in dire straits. In the executive order, Biden proposes a raft of initiatives at more than a dozen agencies to foster more competition across the economy. One of those initiates requested that the Attorney General and the Secretary of Commerce consider revising their "Policy Statement on Remedies for Standards-Essential Patents Subject to Voluntary F/RAND Commitments."

Standards-Essential Patents (SEPs) refer to patents for technology that are necessary to meet a standard. The standard is typically the result of the work of a standard setting organization (SSO). SSOs are private groups, usually composed of industry participants, many of them competitors. When an SSO adopts a standard, it often requires the patent holder of the technology incorporated in the standard to promise to license the technology to those implementing the standard on fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms (FRAND).