WASHINGTON OUTLOOK: KEY IP ISSUES CONTINUE TO ADVANCE AMID A COMPRESSED LEGISLATIVE CALENDAR
As the congressional calendar grows increasingly compressed, intellectual property issues remain active on Capitol Hill. IP policy activity in 2026 has centered on oversight, counterfeiting, artificial intelligence, and pharmaceutical patents. The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence, and the Internet held a USPTO oversight hearing in March featuring Director JOHN SQUIRES. The House also passed H.R. 4930, the Counterfeit Notification Act, on April 27, sending the measure to the full Senate for consideration. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted to advance S. 4591, the NO FAKES Act, last Thursday. And Congressional interest in using patent policy to address drug pricing remains strong: on June 4, the House IP Subcommittee examined the ETHIC Act and the Skinny Labels, Big Savings Act, two pharmaceutical patent measures that IPO opposes, and last Wednesday the Senate HELP Committee advanced the Medication Affordability and Patent Integrity Act, which IPO also opposes.
Congress has a limited number of days remaining before the August recess, with the July 4th break extended this year to accommodate celebrations surrounding America’s 250th anniversary. Following a brief September work period, congressional attention will turn toward the midterm elections, placing a premium on legislative efforts that can build momentum before the end of the year. Both chambers currently have session days scheduled in November and December for a post-election lame-duck session. Traditionally during this period legislation that must pass is the priority, but IP bills that have cleared committee and lack organized opposition could be candidates for attachment to appropriations bills, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), or a year-end health package. This month the House and Senate Armed Services Committees voted to approve their own versions of the FY2027 NDAA, with similar but distinct right to repair provisions. Both bills await floor consideration before reconciliation in conference.
The 119th Congress adjourns on December 31, and legislation not enacted this year generally will need to be reintroduced in the 120th Congress. A full status update on more than two dozen IP-related bills before the 119th Congress is available in IPO’s 119th Congress Legislative Tracker, published today.
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** CLASSIFICATION RESULTS WERE NOT DETERMINATIVE OF DISCOVERABILITY UNDER 35 U.S.C. § 315(E)(2)
Ironburg Inventions Ltd v. Valve Corp., 24-2088 — On Thursday in an opinion by Judge HUGHES, the Federal Circuit reversed and remanded a district court judgment that estopped Valve from asserting two invalidity grounds not included in its petition for inter partes review of Ironburg’s patent for a video game controller. Valve argued the district court misapplied the skilled searcher standard and erred in concluding prior art was discoverable because it was present in “classifications that Valve’s own consultant believed were relevant.”
The Federal Circuit agreed, holding estoppel under 35 U.S.C. § 315(e)(2) required something more than just a classification search when the search returned an unreviewable number of results. During IPR proceedings, the USPTO did not consider classification searches determinative of discoverability but also took into account whether the classifications would be manually searched or narrowed through keyword searching. The district court erred in holding Valve was not required to narrow the thousands of results returned by its classification search for the prior art to be discoverable.
(1 to 4 stars rate impact of opinion on patent & trademark law)
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE APPROVES NO FAKES ACT
On Thursday, June 18, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to advance S. 4591, the NO FAKES Act of 2026 sponsored by Sen. CHRIS COONS (D-DE). NO FAKES would establish a federal right of publicity protecting individuals against the unauthorized use of AI-generated digital replicas of their voice or likeness. The bill has drawn significant interest from the IP community given its implications for AI-generated content and the intersection of copyright and personality rights. A video of the committee’s meeting is available on the Senate Judiciary Committee website.