Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is urging the White House to turn a proposal he floated into an Executive Order that would weaken the economy and cost the government tens of billions of dollars in foregone tax revenue. It’s bad policy, and even worse politically. The Trump Administration would be wise to reject it. Secretary Lutnick is convinced that the government is being short-changed when academic institutions make patentable inventions under federal grants, which are primarily licensed to entrepreneurial small companies that take great risk and expense to turn them into real-world products. The Secretary wants the government to seize 50% of the royalties that universities receive when resulting products are sold—sales that bolster our economy while promoting public well-being. 

On day one of 2026, we asked IP stakeholders to give their predictions for the year ahead on the IP front. From copyright and fair use to patent reform and USPTO operations, here is what they had to say about what to expect in the New Year.

This year, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) granted several important patents claiming important innovations in 6G networks, generating reliable map data for autonomous vehicles and pest-resistant genetically modified crops. With a new year just days away, we hope the following list of the top 10 patents of 2025 sparks interest in the state of global innovation as we reach the final stages of the year.

While being realistic and practical in IP law is usually prudent, it’s a helpful exercise to now and then articulate one’s fantasies for a perfect world in order to gauge what topics come up most often. This year, as in years past, clarity on patent eligibility law remains high, while protections for an improvement of AI tools takes second. Some of the wishes below have little chance of coming true in 2026, but others may be granted—here is what our participants would like to see happen for IP in the new year.

On Monday, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced that the agency has established a Standard-Essential Patent (SEP) Working Group to develop and deliver meaningful policy solutions on SEP-related issues. The working group, which will report to USPTO Director John Squires, will play a role in advancing the Office’s engagement with patent remedies and enforcement in furtherance of the pro-innovation stance the agency has taken on SEP cases before the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) and in U.S. district court.

Global litigation over standard essential patents (SEPs) is facing new strategies by implementers, mainly related to venue selection. There is an increasing risk of foreign decisions aimed at interfering with decisions on infringement of patents granted and issued in foreign jurisdictions – in clear tension with the territoriality principle. There is also a trend of abuse of process in the selection of venues within specific countries aimed at creating obstacles and delaying remedies and effective protection for national IP rights.

IPWatchdog has been using real images of our friends’, colleagues’ and readers’ dogs for our weekly Other Barks and Bites column since the middle of 2024, and have decided to run a “Dog of the Year” contest based on the dogs featured each week. The employees of IPWatchdog have narrowed down the list by choosing our favorites from the year (although we were not allowed to nominate our own dogs). Now, we ask our readers to make the final selection by selecting your favorite dogs for 2024 and 2025. We will announce the “winners” during the first full week of January. Click the link to submit your votes!

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) on Tuesday affirmed a district court’s summary judgment of non-infringement in favor of SC Johnson & Son Incorporated in a case brought by Zip Top, Inc. The decision centered on the interpretation of a key term in a patent claim for reusable silicone containers. Zip Top appealed a decision from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois that granted summary judgment of non-infringement to SC Johnson. Zip Top had asserted that SC Johnson’s Ziploc Endurables products infringed United States Patent No. 11,383,890, which discloses a process for making a container from molded silicone.

As 2025 draws to a close, the intellectual property ecosystem faces a wave of transformative changes driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and evolving legislative priorities. From sweeping federal proposals aimed at harmonizing AI governance and overriding state laws, to new copyright and media integrity measures designed to address deepfakes and transparency, and finally to renewed momentum behind patent eligibility and Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) reform, these developments signal a pivotal moment for innovators, rights holders, and policymakers alike. This article explores three critical fronts shaping the future of IP: federal AI legislation and executive preemption, copyright accountability and media integrity, and the year-end outlook for patent reform—each redefining the balance between innovation, protection, and compliance.

For Section 337 investigations before the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), 2025 was a year of contrasts. As one example, the Federal Circuit’s long-awaited decision in Lashify, Inc. v. ITC reduced the burden for satisfying Section 337’s domestic industry requirement, under which ITC complainants must show adequate U.S. investments in practicing or exploiting the asserted intellectual property rights. But this lower threshold did not immediately result in increased Section 337 complaint filings. For much of 2025, uncertainty concerning U.S. trade policy and federal government operations likely depressed ITC complaint filings.

On December 23, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) issued a precedential decision in Ethanol Boosting Systems, LLC v. Ford Motor Company, affirming the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) invalidation of three patents owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and licensed to Ethanol Boosting Systems (EBS). The opinion was authored by Judge Chen and joined by Judges Clevenger and Hughes.

Each year IPWatchdog surveys the IP community to get their thoughts on what the biggest moments in IP were that year. Some years, the comments vary greatly depending on respondents’ practice or perspective. Other years, there are clear winners for what mattered most that year, and 2025 fits this bill. With a few outliers for big trademark moments, the comments below almost exclusively highlight U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Director John Squires’ and Deputy Director Coke Morgan Stewart’s aggressive approach to reining in Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) proceedings and the various court decisions on artificial intelligence (AI) and copyright that have come down.

This year started with a district court decision defining the parameters of parody and trademark infringement and ended with a case that could have taken the overlap of parody and political free speech to a new level, had it not settled. That can of soup has not yet been opened. While brand owners expect that their trademarks and trade dress are federally protected properties under the Lanham Act, political figures, satirists and manufacturers of parody products expect their activities to be protected under the First Amendment and other carved out, fair use exclusions. Sometimes, these respective worlds collide. In 2025, this became abundantly clear.

On December 19, Google LLC filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against SerpApi, LLC, alleging violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The suit centers on claims that SerpApi, a “scraping” service, unlawfully circumvents Google’s technological barriers to scrape copyrighted content from its search results pages on a massive scale, thereby profiting from Google’s efforts without compensation.

With another holiday season upon us, IPWatchdog is taking a stroll down the toy and gaming aisle to pick out this season’s gifts representing some of the more successful and unique IP stories. From major licensing deals spawning award-winning animatronic dolls to infringement lawsuits ensuring that U.S. consumers enjoy authentic versions of lovable anime characters, Santa will be slipping these gifts down the chimney this year thanks in no small part to the effective use of IP rights.