— Recent and Upcoming Highlights —
New Blog Post: “Nominations to the U.S. International Trade Commission – A Complete Slate of Commissioners (Almost)”
By Michael Doane | June 30, 2026
IPPI 2026 Summer Progress Report
(March – May 2026)
June 18 Webinar: “The Myths and Realities of Pharmaceutical Patents”
In an exclusive webinar on Thursday, June 18th, 2026, IPPI scholars examined the myths and realities of pharmaceutical patents.
The conversation featured Mark Schultz (Faculty Chair & Senior Scholar, IPPI) and Emily Michiko Morris (Associate Faculty Chair, Senior Fellow for Life Sciences, & Senior Scholar, IPPI) and was moderated by Chris Israel (Executive Director of the Alliance of U.S. Startups & Inventors for Jobs).
In the wake of the recent House Judiciary Committee hearing on “Medicines and IP: Balancing Innovation and Access,” the panel unpacked prevailing narratives surrounding pharmaceutical patenting, innovation, and generic competition. Drawing on new IPPI research on so-called “patent thickets” and “evergreening,” the discussion examined how pharmaceutical patents reflect the complex, ongoing process of developing and improving medicines — and why simplistic patent counting and common critiques of pharmaceutical patenting often fail to align with real-world evidence.
June 10 Webinar: “IP at America’s 250th”
Join us on Wednesday, June 10, from 1:00-2:30 PM EDT, for “IP at America’s 250th,” a virtual panel co-hosted by the Council for Innovation Promotion and IPPI: The IP Policy Institute as part of the WIPO-U.S. Summer School on IP!
America was born innovative. The Founders embedded intellectual property protection directly into the Constitution, and for 250 years the nation’s patent, copyright, trademark, and trade secret laws have powered everything from the cotton gin to the smartphone, and from the first American novel to the global entertainment industry.
This panel marks America’s 250th by telling the story of IP from the ground up. Whether you’re a practitioner, a policy wonk, or simply curious about the legal foundations of American ingenuity, you won’t want to miss this conversation with a group of seasoned IP experts, including Victoria Cundiff, David Gooder, The Hon. Andrei Iancu, and Karyn Temple as panelists, with Joshua Kresh as moderator.
New Policy Research on the Myths of
“Patent Thickets” and “Evergreening”
We’re pleased to share new policy research by IPPI scholars that separates myth from reality in current debates over pharmaceutical patents.
In this collection of short papers—”Pharmaceutical ‘Patent Thickets’ and “Pharmaceutical Patent ‘Evergreening'”—Mark Schultz and Douglas Park of IPPI: The Intellectual Property Policy Institute at The University of Akron School of Law, together with Jennifer Brant, IPPI Practitioner in Residence and Senior Advisor at Sidley, challenge common narratives about pharmaceutical patenting practices with real-world evidence.
2026 WIPO-U.S. Summer School on IP
Blog Post: “If AI Can Pirate the Internet, Why Can’t You?”
By David Atkinson | May 11, 2026
Blog Post: “Most-Favored-Nation (MFN) Drug Pricing: You Can’t Import European Prices Without Importing European Tradeoffs”
By Dr. Gabriela Lenarczyk | May 4, 2026
IPPI 2026 Spring Progress Report
(December 2025 – February 2026)
IPPI 2026 Winter Institute:
IP and National Success
Hosted in partnership with
The University of Akron School of Law’s Winter Institute 2026
Thursday, February 26, 2026
Walt Disney World® Swan
1500 Epcot Resorts Boulevard
Lake Buena Vista, Florida 32830