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1,131 records
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Trademark Licensing Protection Act of 2019 This bill establishes that licensing a trademark or trademark registration for use by a related company does not contribute to establishing an employment relationship between the licensor and the licensee, nor does a licensor's exercise of control over how the licensed trademark is used.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Inventor Diversity for Economic Advancement Act of 2019 or the IDEA Act This bill directs the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to collect demographic information about each inventor listed on a patent application. Inventors shall not be required to provide the requested information, which shall include gender, ethnicity, national origin, sexual identity, veterans status, disability, and education and income levels. Such information shall be (1) kept confidential and separate from each patent application, and (2) periodically made public as aggregated data without personally identifying information.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Monopolization Deterrence Act of 2019 This bill establishes civil penalties for violations of the prohibition on monopolistic conduct under the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. (Monopolistic conduct includes exclusionary practices by businesses with monopoly power, such as self-preferencing or refusal to deal with a competitor, among other conduct.) The bill further provides authority for the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to bring claims in federal court to recover these civil penalties. DOJ and the FTC must issue joint guidelines for determining the amount of the civil penalty to seek for such claims.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
National Fab Lab Network Act of 2019 This bill establishes the National Fab Lab Network as a federally chartered corporation. A fab lab is a digital fabrication facility with the capabilities necessary to create form and function from digital designs. The bill requires the National Fab Lab Network to (1) endeavor to establish at least one fab lab in each congressional district and additional labs according to local demand, (2) link fab labs into a national network and promote their further expansion across the country, (3) serve as a training and operating resource for fab labs and their leaders and mentors, (4) maintain a national registry of fab labs, and (5) provide standards and protocols for connecting fab labs.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Prevent Abuse of the Legal System Act or the PALS Act This bill imposes restrictions on U.S. patent infringement actions and transactions involving entities covered by certain export regulations. Specifically, the bill's restrictions apply to all entities on a list maintained by the Department of Commerce under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). Under the EAR, transfers and exports of certain items that implicate national security or foreign policy concerns are restricted when the transaction involves an entity on the list (i.e., a designated entity). In patent infringement actions involving a designated entity, the pleading alleging infringement shall (1) state with particularity the relevant facts and remedies sought, and (2) identify in detail how each patent claim is found in each allegedly infringing product or service. In such actions, a designated entity and its representatives may not obtain nonpublic technical information related to another entity's product or service, through discovery or other means. However, this restriction does not apply to a designated entity's legal counsel. A sale or exclusive license of a U.S. patent to a designated entity shall be prohibited if (1) the designated entity has not undergone a national security review; or (2) a product or service subject to the EAR would infringe the patent, unless an appropriate license is granted. Certain sales or exclusive license of a U.S. patent involving a designated entity and another foreign entity shall comply with certain antitrust provisions, including Federal Trade Commission notification requirements.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Support Technology and Research for Our Nation's Growth and Economic Resilience Patents Act of 2019 or the STRONGER Patents Act of 2019 This bill makes several patent-related changes, including with respect to how the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) conducts administrative patent validity reviews. When deciding inter partes reviews (IPRs) and post-grant reviews (PGRs), the USPTO's Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) shall give patent claim terms their ordinary and customary meanings as understood by a person of ordinary skill in the relevant art (the same standard used in court). If a court has already construed a patent claim, the USPTO shall consider that construction. The bill makes various changes relating to such proceedings, such as by (1) raising the burden of proof to invalidate a patent claim; (2) establishing that a challenged patent claim is presumed valid; (3) imposing standing requirements as to who may file an IPR or PGR, where none currently exist except for some timing requirements; (4) restricting when multiple challenges may be filed against the same patent; and (5) limiting IPRs and PGRs when a court or the International Trade Commission has ruled on the obviousness or novelty of the same patent claims. This bill also (1) makes it easier to get an injunction after a court finding of the infringement of a valid patent, by a presumption that further infringement would cause irreparable injury and the remedies available at law are inadequate; (2) authorizes the USPTO to keep and spend the fees that it collects; and (3) makes bad faith patent demand letters an unfair or deceptive act in violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act of 2019 This bill modifies and expands the schedule for graduated merger filing fees and requires that such fees be adjusted each year based on the Producer Price Index.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Food and Agribusiness Merger Moratorium and Antitrust Review Act of 2019 This bill places a moratorium on certain acquisitions between large agricultural and retail-related businesses and establishes the Food and Agriculture Concentration and Market Power Review Commission. The commission shall report to Congress and the President on (1) the nature and consequences of market concentration in the U.S. food and agricultural economy, and (2) recommended legal and regulatory changes to address such market concentration.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Act of 2019 This bill prohibits patent thicketing and product hopping by drug manufacturers. In general, patent thicketing occurs when a drug manufacturer obtains new patents related to a previously-patented drug, biological product, or underlying chemical composition that extends the manufacturer’s market exclusivity for that drug without demonstrating that the new patents serve a meaningful purpose other than limiting competition from generic drug manufacturers. Product hopping is presumed when a drug manufacturer obtains removal of a drug from the Food and Drug Administration’s approved drug list, discontinues a drug, or markets a reformulation of an already-approved drug during a certain period after which the manufacturer has been notified that a competing drug manufacturer has applied for generic drug approval. These practices are not considered product hopping if the manufacturer demonstrates that the drug was removed from the approved-drug list for safety reasons. Or, in the case of a drug reformulation, the manufacturer shows that the modified product provides a significant health benefit, is the option least likely to reduce competition, and is based on substantial financial considerations unrelated to limiting competition. The Federal Trade Commission may penalize violating manufacturers and bring claims in federal court to prohibit the conduct and provide restitution.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act of 2019 or the CASE Act of 2019 This bill creates the Copyright Claims Board, a body within the U.S. Copyright Office, to decide copyright disputes. Damages awarded by the board are capped at $30,000. Participation in board proceedings is voluntary with an opt-out procedure for defendants, and parties may choose instead to have a dispute heard in court. If the parties agree to have their dispute heard by the board, they shall forego the right to be heard before a court and the right to a jury trial. Board proceedings shall have no effect on class actions. The board shall be authorized to hear copyright infringement claims, actions for a declaration of noninfringement, claims that a party knowingly sent false takedown notices, and related counterclaims. The bill provides for various procedures, including with respect to requests for information from the other party and requests for the board to reconsider a decision. The board may issue monetary awards based on actual or statutory damages. The parties shall bear their own attorneys' fees and costs except where there is bad faith misconduct. A board's final determination precludes relitigating the claims in court or at the board. Parties may challenge a board decision in federal district court only if (1) the decision was a result of fraud, corruption, or other misconduct; (2) the board exceeded its authority or failed to render a final determination; or (3) in a default ruling or failure to prosecute, the default or failure was excusable.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Prescription Pricing for the People Act of 2019 This bill directs the Federal Trade Commission to report to Congress on the effect of certain anticompetitive practices in the pharmaceutical supply chain.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Fair Licensing Access for Governments Act of 2019 or the FLAG Act of 2019 This bill allows for the registration of trademarks that contain the flag or insignia of a country, state, or municipality if the entity represented by the flag or insignia gives written consent. Currently, such trademarks may not be registered, regardless of consent.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
This resolution recognizes the 75th anniversary of the REALTORS® Land Institute.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
No Stolen Trademarks Honored in America Act This bill modifies the bar against U.S. courts enforcing or validating trademarks that were confiscated by the Cuban government. The bill prohibits U.S. courts from enforcing or validating such confiscated trademarks if the mark had been used in connection with a confiscated business or asset. Currently, the prohibition applies only if the confiscated trademark is being asserted in the United States by a Cuban national. Under the bill, the prohibition shall not apply if the original trademark owner, or a successor, has expressly consented to the enforcement action. The prohibition shall apply only if the entity asserting the trademark rights knew or should have known, when it acquired the rights, that the mark was the same or substantially similar to one connected to a confiscated business or asset.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Preserving Access to Cost Effective Drugs Act or the PACED Act This bill prohibits patent owners from asserting tribal sovereign immunity as a defense in certain proceedings before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, including patent validity challenge proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). The prohibition also applies to court actions and proceedings before the International Trade Commission. Sovereign immunity for foreign states shall apply in the PTAB as it applies in federal court.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Consolidation Prevention and Competition Promotion Act of 2019 This bill amends the Clayton Act to revise merger requirements. Specifically, the bill prohibits a merger that materially (currently, substantially) lessens competition in more than a de minimis amount or tends to create a monopsony (a market situation in which there is only one buyer); shifts the burden of proof to the merging companies to show that their consolidation will not harm competition; requires companies that enter into a settlement agreement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) or Department of Justice regarding a merger to report information that allows the agencies to assess the competitive impact of the merger, and establishes the Office of the Competition Advocate within the FTC.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Merger Enforcement Improvement Act This bill modifies antitrust enforcement requirements regarding mergers. Specifically, the bill adjusts premerger notification filing fees; requires certain filers to report to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) or to the relevant Assistant Attorney General on information that allows the government to assess the competitive impact of a merger; requires the FTC to study overlapping ownership or control by investors in certain markets; and requires the Government Accountability Office to assess the success of certain merger remedies and the impact of mergers and acquisitions on wages, employment, innovation, and new business formation.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Startup Act This bill provides conditional visas to certain immigrants with advanced educational credentials. It also establishes a grant program to promote innovation and imposes requirements on certain rulemaking activities. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) may provide conditional permanent resident status to up to 50,000 aliens with advanced science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) degrees. Such aliens may remain in the country for up to one year after the expiration of a student visa to find employment, or indefinitely if already engaged in a STEM field. DHS may issue conditional immigrant visas for up to 75,000 qualified alien entrepreneurs. The bill imposes various requirements on such entrepreneurs, such as creating a number of full-time jobs for a period of time, after which the alien shall receive permanent resident status. The bill increases the per-country cap on family-based immigrant visas from 7% of the total number of such visas available that year to 15%, and eliminates the 7% cap for employment-based immigrant visas. It also removes an offset that reduced the number of visas for individuals from China. The bill establishes a grant program to support the commercialization of federally-funded research. It also requires the Small Business Administration to award grants regionally to interconnected businesses within an industry sector. This bill requires federal agencies, before proposing a rule that may have a significant economic effect, to publish an analysis of the rule, including the problem the rule intends to address and a cost-benefit analysis.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Trademark Licensing Protection Act of 2022 This bill establishes that licensing a trademark or trademark registration for use by a related company does not contribute to establishing an employment relationship between the licensor and the licensee, nor does a licensor's exercise of control over how the licensed trademark is used.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Antitrust Freedom Act of 202 2 This bill establishes that certain laws related to antitrust and unfair competition shall not prohibit or otherwise apply to any voluntary economic coordination, cooperation, or agreement between any individual or group of individuals.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
American Music Fairness Act This bill establishes that the copyright holder of a sound recording shall have the exclusive right to perform the sound recording through an audio transmission and addresses other related issues. (Currently, the public performance right only covers performances through a digital audio transmission in certain instances, which means that nonsubscription terrestrial radio stations generally do not have to secure a license to publicly perform a copyright-protected sound recording.) Under the bill, a nonsubscription broadcast transmission must have a license to publicly perform such sound recordings. The Copyright Royalty Board must periodically determine the royalty rates for such a license. When determining the rates, the board must base its decision on certain information presented by the parties, including the radio stations' effect on other streams of revenue related to the sound recordings. Terrestrial broadcast stations (and the owners of such stations) that fall below certain revenue thresholds may pay certain flat fees, instead of the board-established rate, for a license to publicly perform copyright-protected sound recordings.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Patent Eligibility Restoration Act of 2022 This bill amends the law relating to patent subject matter eligibility to establish that only specified subject matter (e.g., a natural process wholly independent of human activity) are ineligible for patenting. (Currently, subject matter eligibility is determined by examining whether the claimed invention is directed to certain ineligible categories, and if so, whether there is an inventive concept.)
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Patent Examination and Quality Improvement Act of 2022 This bill requires the Government Accountability Office to report to Congress on how to improve the patent examination process and the quality of issued patents. Within a year after the report is submitted to Congress, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office must develop guidance for its patent examiners that take into consideration the report’s findings and recommendations.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Interagency Patent Coordination and Improvement Act of 2022 This bill establishes the Interagency Task Force on Patents to support coordination and communication between the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on activities relating to patents for human drugs and biological products. The task force's duties shall include establishing a process for the PTO to request from the FDA information relating to certain patent applications to help patent examiners carry out their duties.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Patent Trial and Appeal Board Reform Act of 2022 This bill modifies the authorities and procedures of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), the body within the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) that decides administrative patent validity challenges and reviews (e.g., inter partes reviews and post-grant reviews). For example, the bill (1) authorizes the director of the PTO to review and set aside PTAB decisions, (2) modifies the time limits for filing such patent validity challenges at the PTAB, and (3) limits the institution of certain such challenges if the challenges are filed by the same petitioner and includes one or more of the same claims.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Foreign Merger Subsidy Disclosure Act This bill requires entities to disclose in their premerger notification filings to federal antitrust regulators content regarding any economic support they received from a foreign state.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
This resolution directs the Federal Trade Commission to investigate and report on the extent of anticompetitive practices such as price fixing within the beef packing industry.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Competition and Transparency in Digital Advertising Act This bill limits certain large digital advertising companies from owning multiple types of advertising exchanges or brokerages and imposes certain duties with respect to the interests of the customers of such brokerages. Advertising exchanges and brokerages generally facilitate advertisers and publishers in buying and selling advertising inventory through an automated bidding process. Specifically, companies with more than $20 billion in annual digital advertising revenue are prohibited from owning more than one type of service within the digital advertising marketplace. For example, a company, such as Google, may not own a digital advertising exchange and provide software that assists publishers of online advertisements in selling advertising space on their websites. Additionally, companies with more than $5 billion in annual digital advertising revenue that provide brokerage services to buyers or sellers of digital advertisements must act in the best interest of their brokerage customers. The bill also establishes transparency and privacy requirements for such brokerages. The bill provides for enforcement of these requirements by the Department of Justice, state attorneys general, and private right of action.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Food and Agribusiness Merger Moratorium and Antitrust Review Act of 20 22 This bill places a moratorium on certain acquisitions between large agricultural and retail-related businesses and establishes the Food and Agriculture Concentration and Market Power Review Commission. The commission shall report to Congress and the President on (1) the nature and consequences of market concentration in the U.S. food and agricultural economy, and (2) recommended legal and regulatory changes to address such market concentration.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Patents for Humanity Act of 2022 This bill provides statutory authority for a program to award certificates that may be used to accelerate certain proceedings and applications at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). The program established under this bill shall be treated as the successor to the existing Patents for Humanity program. Under this bill, the PTO must hold a competition at least once every two years to award certificates to eligible entities that submit a patent application that addresses a humanitarian issue.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Copyright Clause Restoration Act of 2022 This bill shortens the copyright protection term to 28 years starting from the date the work was originally secured, to be renewable for an additional 28-year term. (Under current law, for works created after 1977, the general rule is that the copyright term lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years.) The bill shall apply to all works fixed on or after the bill's enactment, except that it shall have retroactive effect for copyrights belonging to an entity that (1) is involved in the motion picture or arts and entertainment industries, and (2) has a market capitalization of more than $150 billion.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Strengthening Measures to Advance Rights Technologies Copyright Act of 2022 or the SMART Copyright Act of 2022 This bill authorizes the Library of Congress to designate technical measures (i.e., measures that identify, manage, or protect copyrighted works) and requires providers of internet-related services to make reasonable accommodations for applicable designated technical measures. A copyright owner may sue and receive monetary damages from a service provider that fails to make such reasonable accommodations. The bill also modifies requirements relating to a provision that limits the liability of service providers for acts of copyright infringement committed by the service providers' users.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Prohibiting Anticompetitive Mergers Act of 2022 This bill prohibits certain business mergers, modifies the procedures for reviewing mergers, and establishes procedures for reversing certain mergers. Specifically, the bill prohibits mergers that (1) are valued at more than $5 billion in total assets, (2) result in the acquiring entity having a market share of greater than 33% (or a share of a labor market as an employer of greater than 25%), or (3) result in market concentration levels that exceed specified thresholds. The bill also expands the authority of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to review pending mergers, including whether a merger is likely to harm the competitive process and the effect of a merger on relevant labor markets. Finally, the bill authorizes the FTC and the Antitrust Division of the DOJ to retroactively unwind mergers that are prohibited under the bill or that meet certain other anticompetitive criteria such as a merger that results in a greater than 50% share of a relevant market.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Save American Baseball Act This bill removes the limited exemption from the antitrust laws for persons in the business of organized professional baseball. For purposes of this bill, the term antitrust laws means laws to protect against unlawful restraints and monopolies (Clayton Act) and to protect against unfair methods of competition (Federal Trade Commission Act).
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Defending American Courts Act This bill imposes limitations relating to a person (i.e., individual or entity) that seeks to use an injunction from a foreign tribunal to restrict a patent infringement claim in the United States. For example, if the person asserting such a foreign injunction has been found liable for patent infringement in a U.S. court, that court shall, with certain exceptions, make specified presumptions that generally increase the likelihood of the court (1) increasing the damages awarded in the case, and (2) awarding attorney fees to the patent owner.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
This resolution designates the week of February 12, 2022, as National Entrepreneurship Week to recognize and celebrate the contributions of entrepreneurs to the U.S. economy and to communities across the country.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Consolidation Prevention and Competition Promotion Act of 2021 This bill revises antitrust laws applicable to mergers and anticompetitive conduct. Specifically, the bill applies a stricter standard for permissible mergers by prohibiting mergers that (1) create an appreciable risk of materially lessening competition, or (2) unfairly lower the prices of goods or wages because of a lack of competition among buyers or employers (i.e., a monopsony). Under current law, mergers that substantially lessen competition are prohibited. Additionally, for some large mergers or mergers that concentrate markets beyond a certain threshold, the bill shifts the burden of proof to the merging parties to prove that the merger does not violate the law. The bill also establishes within the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) the Office of the Competition Advocate. The Government Accountability Office must report on (1) the success of merger remedies required by the Department of Justice or the FTC in recent consent decrees; and (2) the impact of mergers and acquisitions on wages, employment, innovation, and new business formation.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Patents for Humanity Act of 2021 This bill provides statutory authority for a program to award certificates that may be used to accelerate certain proceedings and applications at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). The program established under this bill shall be treated as the successor to the existing Patents for Humanity program. Under this bill, the PTO must hold a competition at least once every two years to award certificates to eligible entities that submit a patent application that addresses a humanitarian issue.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Platform Competition and Opportunity Act of 2021 This bill generally prohibits operators of covered platforms from acquiring the stock or other share capital or the assets of another person engaged in commerce or in any activity affecting commerce. Covered platforms are online platforms that (1) have at least 50 million U.S.-based monthly active users or at least 100,000 U.S.-based monthly active business users, (2) are owned or controlled by a person with net annual sales or a market capitalization greater than $600 billion, and (3) are critical trading partners for the sale or provision of any product or service offered on or directly related to the platform. The Federal Trade Commission or the Department of Justice must designate whether an entity is a covered platform, and both must carry out enforcement activities. The bill provides for any person (other than a foreign state and any instrumentality thereof) who is injured by an activity forbidden under the bill to recover triple damages. (A foreign state may only recover actual damages.) Further, the bill specifies the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit as the judicial venue for a covered platform's appeals related to (1) the designation as a covered platform, (2) other administrative and enforcement proceedings, or (3) a final order issued in any district court.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
American Innovation and Choice Online Act This bill prohibits certain large online platforms from engaging in specified acts, including giving preference to their own products on the platform, unfairly limiting the availability on the platform of competing products from another business, or discriminating in the application or enforcement of the platform's terms of service among similarly situated users. Further, a platform may not materially restrict or impede the capacity of a competing business user to access or interoperate with the same platform, operating system, or hardware or software features. The bill also restricts the platform's use of nonpublic data obtained from or generated on the platform and prohibits the platform from restricting access to platform data generated by the activity of a competing business user. The bill also provides additional restrictions related to installing or uninstalling software, search or ranking functionality, and retaliation for contact with law enforcement regarding actual or potential violations of law. The bill establishes affirmative defenses for the prohibited conduct. The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice must designate whether an entity is a platform covered by the bill, and both must carry out enforcement activities. The bill also provides for civil penalties, injunctions, and the forfeit of profits for repeat offenders.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
This resolution designates October 2021 as National Co-Op Month, commends the cooperative business model for its contributions to the economy, and expresses confidence in cooperatives to continue their successes.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Restoring the America Invents Act This bill modifies various provisions related to administrative patent validity review proceedings conducted before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), a body within the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). For example, the bill expands the scope of inter partes reviews (IPRs), one type of such review proceedings, by allowing challenges to a patent's validity based on statutory or obviousness-type double patenting grounds; authorizes the PTO director to review, modify, or set aside final PTAB decisions; authorizes governmental entities to file IPRs and post-grant reviews (PGRs), a related type of patent review proceeding; requires the PTO to institute an IPR (i.e., a decision to proceed with the full IPR proceeding) if there's a reasonable likelihood that the petitioner will prevail, subject to limited exceptions; establishes in statute factors for a court to consider when deciding a request to stay a patent infringement lawsuit involving a patent subject to a pending IPR or PGR; modifies provisions related to the joinder of parties and handling of multiple proceedings involving the same patent before the PTO; and modifies provisions relating to the time limitation for filing an IPR, including by establishing that a lawsuit dismissed without prejudice does not trigger the time limitation (generally, a petitioner wishing to file an IPR must do so within one year of being served a lawsuit alleging infringement of the patent).
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Unleashing American Innovators Act of 2021 This bill modifies the responsibilities of U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) satellite offices, increases the discount on patent-related fees for small and micro entities, and addresses related issues. Specifically, the bill modifies the statutory purpose of PTO satellite offices to include outreach and retention activities targeting underrepresented groups and individuals from economically, geographically, and demographically diverse backgrounds. For each satellite office established after January 1, 2021, the PTO must consider the office's proximity to anchor institutions (e.g., hospitals primarily serving veterans and institutions of higher education) and populations that are underrepresented in patent filings, including rural populations. The PTO must establish (1) a satellite office in the southeastern United States within three years of this bill's enactment, (2) at least two community outreach offices in each region of the United States within five years of this bill's enactment, and (3) a pilot program to help prospective first-time patent applicants assess the viability of a potential patent application. The PTO must also (1) conduct and report to Congress a study on patent pro bono programs, including whether such programs are sufficiently serving underrepresented groups; and (2) use the study's findings to update such pro bono programs.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Pride in Patent Ownership Act This bill requires disclosure of certain patent-related information, including information about ownership and funding. Under the bill, if a foreign or domestic governmental entity provides funding for fees related to a patent application or for paying an attorney (or patent agent) to prosecute the patent application, the application must disclose the amount and source of such funding. Similarly, if any governmental entity provides funding for paying a patent's maintenance fees or for paying an attorney (or patent agent) to submit such maintenance fees, the patent owner must submit a statement disclosing the amount and source of such funding. The bill also requires patent owners to record information about the ownership of a patent with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Patent owners must also update this information when certain rights or interests in the patent have been conveyed to another individual or entity. A patent owner may not receive increased monetary damages for infringement of that patent that occurred while the owner was out of compliance with this ownership information recordation requirement. The USPTO must make this ownership information publicly available.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Open App Markets Act This bill establishes rules related to the operation of an app store by a covered company (i.e., the owner or controller of an app store with more than 50 million U.S. users). An app is a software application or electronic service that may be run or directed by a user on a computer or mobile device. An app store is a publicly available website, software application, or other electronic service that distributes apps from third-party developers to users. The bill prohibits a covered company from (1) requiring developers to use an in-app payment system owned or controlled by the company as a condition of distribution or accessibility, (2) requiring that pricing or conditions of sale be equal to or more favorable on its app store than another app store, or (3) taking punitive action against a developer for using or offering different pricing terms or conditions of sale through another in-app payment system or on another app store. A covered company may not interfere with legitimate business communications between developers and users, use non-public business information from a third-party app to compete with the app, or unreasonably prefer or rank its own apps (or those of its business partners) over other apps. The bill provides for enforcement of its provisions by the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice, as well as through suits brought by developers that are injured by reason of anything forbidden under the bill.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Tougher Enforcement Against Monopolists Act or the TEAM Act This bill makes various changes with respect to the enforcement of federal antitrust laws. Specifically, the bill consolidates antitrust enforcement authority in one agency by transferring all Federal Trade Commission (FTC) antitrust functions, employees, assets, and funding to the Department of Justice (DOJ). The bill also transfers to DOJ the responsibility for reviewing specified communications transactions that is currently the duty of the Federal Communications Commission. Additionally, the bill modifies and expands the schedule for graduated merger filing fees and requires that such fees be adjusted each year based on the U.S. Gross National Product. The bill also establishes certain presumptions that a merger substantially lessens competition under specified circumstances, and it revises the premerger notification requirements. The bill further requires the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs of the Office of Management and Budget, in reviewing a significant regulatory action of an agency, to submit an impact statement to the agency identifying how the regulatory action may impact competition in the market to which the regulation applies. The bill grants antitrust immunity to state occupational licensing boards in states that satisfy specified occupational licensing law requirements. To meet these requirements a state must either (1) adopt certain licensing policies and actively supervise such boards, or (2) provide for judicial review of occupational licensing laws. Finally, the bill makes other modifications to antitrust enforcement such as (1) permitting DOJ to recover triple damages in actions brought on behalf of consumers, and (2) providing for civil fines for knowing violations of antitrust laws.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Stopping Harmful Offers on Platforms by Screening Against Fakes in E-commerce Act of 2021 or SHOP SAFE Act of 2021 This bill makes an electronic commerce platform liable for infringement of a registered trademark by a third-party seller of goods that implicate health and safety unless the platform takes certain actions. Specifically, the platform may be contributorily liable if the seller uses a counterfeit mark in connection with selling, offering, or advertising such goods on the platform. The platform may avoid such liability by taking certain actions before the infringing act, including (1) requiring the seller to have a registered agent or a verified address for service of process in the United States, (2) verifying the seller's identity and contact information, (3) requiring the seller to agree to not use counterfeit marks with goods sold on the platform, (4) implementing technical measures to prescreen listings on the platform and remove listings for goods being sold with a counterfeit mark, and (5) implementing policies to remove and ban repeat offenders.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
No Stolen Trademarks Honored in America Act This bill modifies the bar against U.S. courts enforcing or validating trademarks that were confiscated by the Cuban government. The bill prohibits U.S. courts from enforcing or validating such confiscated trademarks if the mark had been used in connection with a confiscated business or asset. Currently, the prohibition applies only if the confiscated trademark is being asserted in the United States by a Cuban national. Under the bill, the prohibition shall not apply if the original trademark owner, or a successor, has expressly consented to the enforcement action. The prohibition shall apply only if the entity asserting the trademark rights knew or should have known, when it acquired the rights, that the mark was the same or substantially similar to one connected to a confiscated business or asset.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Act of 2021 This bill prohibits product hopping by drug manufacturers, authorizes the Federal Trade Commission to enforce this prohibition, and imposes limits on patent litigation involving biological products. Generally, product-hopping describes a situation where, when the patents on a reference drug (or biological product) expire, the manufacturer switches to a follow-on product that is covered by a later-expiring patent. Under this bill, a follow-on product is a modified version of the reference drug that shares an indication (what the drug is used for) with the reference drug. The bill presumes product hopping has occurred when a reference drug manufacturer, after receiving notice that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has received an application to market a competing generic (or biosimilar) version, takes certain actions such as withdrawing the reference drug from the market and selling a follow-on product. A drug manufacturer may rebut these presumptions by demonstrating that its conduct was not intended to limit competition. The bill also limits in certain instances the number of patents that a reference biological product manufacturer can assert in a patent infringement lawsuit against a company seeking to sell a biosimilar version. Specifically, if the biosimilar manufacturer completes certain actions as part of an abbreviated pathway to get FDA market approval, the bill limits, subject to exceptions and waivers, the number of certain types of patents that the reference product manufacturer may assert, such as patents filed more than four years after the reference product received market approval.
United States · United States Congress · 10 August 2026
Prescription Pricing for the People Act of 20 21 This bill requires the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to report about anticompetitive practices and other trends within the pharmaceutical supply chain that may impact the cost of prescription drugs. The FTC also must provide recommendations to increase transparency in the supply chain and prevent anticompetitive practices.