Exclusive: DoJ antitrust chief reveals plans to leave in 2021

Makan Delrahim, the head of the US Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, has told Managing IP that he plans to step down after Donald Trump’s first term, whether the president wins or loses the election on November 3.

In an exclusive interview, Delrahim said: “My plans have been to leave at the end of this president's first term. Regardless of the outcome of the election, I anticipate that there will be someone else in my seat in the next year.”

Managing IP will publish the full interview with Delrahim, in which he talks about why he is leaving the DoJ, his record at the department and what he thinks about criticism of his approach to antitrust enforcement of standard essential patents, next week. 

Delrahim, who was appointed to his role as assistant attorney general in September 2017, was also interviewed by this publication in 2018.

He spoke about his commitment to the New Madison approach, which sets out that antitrust law should not be used as a tool to police FRAND commitments that patent-holders unilaterally make to standard setting organisations, and other plans for his term at the DoJ.