The U.S. patent legal landscape in 2025 is poised for change. The incoming presidential administration is coupled with interim changes in leadership at the USPTO after Kathi Vidal’s departure, and several newly vacant, fillable commissioner seat openings at the ITC. Technology such as artificial intelligence—and changing attitudes towards those technologies—are evolving at an accelerating pace.

And, amid that backdrop, many pieces of proposed patent legislation are pending in Congress which could further—or possibly stifle—modern trends in American patent law, and could alter our innovation landscape for years to come. This column surveys that pending patent legislation.