Posts in Capitol Hill

In a complaint filed Thursday, May 22, Shira Perlmutter, who is presently still listed as Register of Copyrights on the U.S. Copyright Office website, told the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that President Donald Trump’s controversial attempt to remove her from her post is “unlawful and ineffective.” The Trump Administration fired Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden on May 9, two days before it fired Perlmutter. The day after Hayden was let go, the Copyright Office released a pre-publication edition of the third part in its series of reports exploring issues in copyright law in light of evolving artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

Earlier today, John Squires, who is President Trump’s pick to become the next Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), had his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. For better or worse, the panel today also included nominees Stanley Woodward, Jr. for Associate Attorney General; T. Elliott Gaiser for Assistant Attorney General; and Joseph Edlow for Director of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, all of whom attracted more attention and questions than did Squires.

Yesterday, the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary’s Subcommittee on Intellectual Property held a hearing titled Foreign Threats to American Innovation and Economic Leadership, featuring testimony from private businesses on the myriad challenges facing American intellectual property (IP) owners in the face of illegal activities sponsored by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Along with consumer safety and national security risks, the day’s hearing featured discussion of several IP-related bills, some of which will be introduced into Congress in the coming days.

Recent U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decisions have gutted 35 U.S.C. §315(e)(2). Last week, in Ingenico Inc. v. IOENGINE, LLC, 2025 WL 1318188 (Fed. Cir. 2025), the Federal Circuit resolved an open issue regarding IPR estoppel in district court, holding that system art is never subject to IPR estoppel under 35 U.S.C. §315(e)(2). But Ingenico went much further and also held that “IPR estoppel does not preclude a petitioner from relying on the same patents and printed publications as evidence in asserting a ground that could not be raised during the IPR, such as that the claimed invention was known or used by others, on sale, or in public use.”

Last night, on the same day the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act of 2025 was introduced in both the Senate and House of Representatives, Senators Chris Coons (D-DE), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Dick Durbin (D-Il.), and Mazie Hirono (D-HI) also reintroduced the Promoting and Respecting Economically Vital American Innovation Leadership (PREVAIL) Act, which would significantly reform Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) practice.

Earlier today, the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act of 2025 was introduced in both the Senate and House of Representatives, with Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC), Senator Chris Coons (D-DE), Representative Kevin Kiley (R-CA) and Representative Scott Peters (D-CA) sponsoring largely the same bill as the version presented during the 118th Congress, but with several differences.

Today, Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Chris Coons (D-DE), Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) reintroduced the NO FAKES Act, which would create a federal IP right to an individual’s voice and likeness. In September 2024, U.S. Representatives María Elvira Salazar (R-FL), Madeleine Dean (D-PA), Nathaniel Moran (R-TX), Joe Morelle (D-NY), Rob Wittman (R-VA) and Adam Schiff (D-CA) introduced the bill in the House of Representatives, two months after Coons, Blackburn, Klobuchar and Tillis had in the Senate.

The Council for Innovation Promotion (C4IP) released a report Monday urging the Trump Administration and Congress to take 18 key steps to strengthen the U.S. IP system. This is the second edition of C4IP’s report, titled, Reaffirm and Refine: A Government Agenda for Intellectual Property. The first was released in July 2023 and included 11 sections recommending agenda items for the Biden Administration and the 118th Congress.

The U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary on Thursday convened an executive business meeting during which the full committee voted on a series of six drug patent-related bills towards a vote on the full floor of the Senate. While many of these bills were hailed by committee members as strong steps toward reining in consumer drug prices, the perceived problems addressed by these bills have been fomented by controversial data reports, leading to questions as to whether these bills will achieve their intended cost reductions without negatively impacting the next generation of pharmaceutical innovation.

On Thursday morning, the full U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee will convene an executive business meeting to consider several pieces of proposed legislation aimed largely at regulating patent-related activities in the pharmaceutical sector. Although one proposed bill would call for a study into the role of intermediaries in the pharmaceutical supply chain, the remaining drafts are meant to address perceived issues related to drug patents, many of which have been made more menacing by data reports that have been refuted by U.S. government sources.

According to the United States Senate website, President Donald Trump has officially nominated John Squires to be the next Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The nomination was transmitted to the Senate on March 10 and referred to the Judiciary Committee. Squires has been rumored to be the pick for USPTO Director for several weeks. He is currently Chair of the Emerging Companies and IP practice at Dilworth Paxson and former Chief IP Counsel at Goldman Sachs from 2000 to 2008. Squires also was a partner with Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP in New York and with Perkins Coie before that.

With Donald J. Trump back in the White House, intellectual property (IP) and innovation policy are poised for significant shifts. During IPWatchdog LIVE 2025, an expert panel titled “Inside the Beltway: The Future of IP and Innovation Policy,” featuring retired Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) Paul Michel, U.S. House Judiciary Chief Counsel for IP J. John Lee, Senate IP Director Peter-Anthony Pappas, and public policy expert Patrick Kilbride discussed what lies ahead for patent law, legislative reforms, and America’s ability to compete in a rapidly changing global landscape.

Senators Chris Coons (D-DE) and Tom Cotton (R-AR) today introduced the Realizing Engineering, Science, and Technology Opportunities by Restoring Exclusive (RESTORE) Patent Rights Act of 2025, which would restore patent owners’ right to the rebuttable presumption that a court will issue an injunction upon a finding of patent infringement. Representatives Nathaniel Moran (R-TX) and Madeleine Dean (D-PA) also introduced a House companion bill. 

Howard Lutnick, who is President Trump’s pick to become the next Secretary of Commerce, cleared a key hurdle in the Senate on Thursday, February 13, with the Senate voting 52-45 to invoke cloture. This means Lutnick will indeed soon be confirmed by the Senate to be the next Secretary of Commerce.

Twenty years ago, Congress began hearing that the patent system needed a faster, cheaper way than district court suits to assess the validity of issued patents. In line with this goal, Congress emphasized that the new procedure was to be “an alternative to expensive district court litigation.”