Lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives introduced the DEFEND IP Act on September 24, a bipartisan companion to a Senate bill aimed at curbing online piracy from abroad. The legislation, sponsored by Representatives Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Ben Cline (R-VA), would require blocking orders against foreign websites offering pirated content to be issued through U.S. courts.
Notably, the bill does not mandate specific technical measures for blocking. Instead, it would let Internet service providers choose flexible, minimal blocking approaches, and it would target only large-scale, foreign-run piracy sites. The approach mirrors the Senate version led by Senators Thom Tillis, Chris Coons, Marsha Blackburn, and Adam Schiff.
Elsewhere in IP law this week, the Unified Patent Court's Court of Appeal ruled that a noninfringement action can be filed before a patent has been granted, treating the issue as one of admissibility rather than jurisdiction. In a separate matter, D.C. Circuit Judge Judith Rogers dissented from a ruling on Copyright Royalty Board royalty allocations, arguing that the majority's analysis was premature because the Board had not adequately explained its weighing of regression and survey results.