A bill to abrogate the sovereign immunity of Indian tribes as a defense in inter partes review of patents.

Bill: 115-s-1948
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. McCaskill, Claire [D-MO]
Introduced: 2017-10-05
Policy area: Native Americans
Subjects: Federal-Indian relations

Intellectual property

Sovereignty, recognition, national governance and status
Latest action: action_date: 2017-10-05
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs.

Summaries:
action_date: 2017-10-05
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p>This bill prohibits an Indian tribe from asserting sovereign immunity as a defense in an inter partes review of the validity of a patent.</p>

tv_txt: II 115th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 1948 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES October 5, 2017 Mrs. McCaskill introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs A BILL To abrogate the sovereign immunity of Indian tribes as a defense in inter partes review of patents.

1. Abrogation of tribal immunity in certain patent claims (a) Definition In this section, the term Indian tribe has the meaning given the term in section 4 of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act ( 25 U.S.C. 2703 ). (b) Abrogation of immunity for purposes of inter partes review Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an Indian tribe may not assert sovereign immunity as a defense in a review that is conducted under chapter 31 of title 35, United States Code.