# 119-hr-7510: Preventing Research Ownership Transfer to External Competitive Threats (PROTECT) Act of 2026

119-hr-7510, Preventing Research Ownership Transfer to External Competitive Threats (PROTECT) Act of 2026, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Nehls, Troy E. [R-TX-22] (R-TX); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-04-21).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7510
- As of: 2026-04-21
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-hr-7510
- Congress: 119
- Title: Preventing Research Ownership Transfer to External Competitive Threats (PROTECT) Act of 2026
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2026-02-11
- Sponsor: Rep. Nehls, Troy E. [R-TX-22] (R-TX)
- Cosponsors: 1
- Policy area: Education
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-04-21

## Summary

**Prohibits U.S. universities from transferring research intellectual property to certain foreign governments.** The PROTECT Act of 2026 would bar universities and their faculty, staff, and students from contracts, licenses, sales, transfers, or other transactions that grant patents, copyrights, trade secrets, data rights, or other IP in covered research to specified foreign governments.

## Cosponsors (1)

- Rep. Gill, Brandon [R-TX-26] (R-TX), 2026-02-11T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- Fines and seizure for illegal transfers: cost, medium. If enacted, the bill would allow civil fines for illegal transfers of university research IP. Fines would be up to $500,000 per violation when the transfer is not found to endanger U.S. national security. Fines would be up to $5,000,000 per violation when the Secretary of State finds the transfer e…
- Ban on university IP transfers abroad: mixed, medium. If enacted, this bill would ban U.S. universities and their faculty, staff, and students from transferring research IP to certain foreign governments. Covered foreign governments would include Russia, China, and Iran and any nation the Secretary of State calls a national security threat. The ban wo…

## Related bills

- 119-hr-6225: PAUSE Act of 2025
- 119-hr-2395: SHORT Act
- 119-hr-21: Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act
- 119-hr-6987: Public Charge Clarification Act of 2026
- 119-hr-5483: Chloe Cole Act
- 119-hr-1181: Protecting Privacy in Purchases Act

## Sources
- [119-hr-7510 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/7510)

## Related
- [119-hr-6225: PAUSE Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-6225)
- [119-hr-2395: SHORT Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-2395)
- [119-hr-21: Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-21)
- [119-hr-6987: Public Charge Clarification Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-6987)
- [119-hr-5483: Chloe Cole Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-5483)
- [119-hr-1181: Protecting Privacy in Purchases Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1181)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7510 (as of 2026-04-21).