Representatives Kiley, Peters Introduce the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act

WASHINGTON – Today Representatives Kevin Kiley (R-CA) and Scott Peters (D-CA) introduced the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act (PERA), bipartisan legislation to restore patent eligibility to inventions across many fields. This bill affirms the basic principle that the patent system is central to promoting technology-based innovation. Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Chris Coons (D-DE) introduced the bill in the Senate in 2023.

“The U.S. has one of the most restrictive patent systems in the world due to confusing rulings from the Supreme Court. The Patent Eligibility Restoration Act will allow American inventors to patent a wider variety of inventions that foreign nations, like China, already allow their own innovators to patent,” said Rep. Kiley. “This will spark economic growth, create jobs, and provide significant technological advancement for all Americans.”

“For more than two centuries, a U.S. patent has guaranteed innovators that their inventions will be protected from theft. Our patent system has helped the U.S. become and remain the innovation capital of the world,” said Rep. Peters. “Over the last decade, however, the Supreme Court has created confusion about what exactly is eligible for a patent. Now, medical diagnostics, artificial intelligence, software, advances in personalized medicine, and other revolutionary technologies that are patentable in Europe and China may not be eligible in the U.S. If Congress does not clarify patent eligibility, we will lose even more ground to our global competitors. I look forward to working with Congressman Kiley, Senator Coons, and Senator Tillis to advance the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act and restore the U.S. patent as the gold standard for protecting innovation.”

“Critical to the economic and global competitiveness of the United States, as well as to its national security, remains the need for clear, strong, and predictable patent rights. Unfortunately, our current Supreme Court’s patent eligibility jurisprudence is undermining American innovation and allowing foreign adversaries, such as China, to overtake us in key technology innovations,” said Senator Tillis. “This bipartisan legislation maintains the existing statutory categories of eligible subject matter, which have worked well for over two centuries, and addresses concerns regarding inappropriate eligibility constraints by enumerating a specific but extensive list of excluded subject matter. Opponents to patent eligibility reform will attempt to sow confusion by conflating patent eligibility and patentability. It’s important to remember that patent eligibility is simply one consideration in the process of determining patentability.”

“A series of Supreme Court decisions has muddied the waters of patent eligibility, threating American innovation and our economy,” said Senator Coons. “I’m glad the House has introduced a companion bill to my bipartisan Patent Eligibility Restoration Act with Senator Tills, and I urge Congress to pass this legislation so we can clarify the types of inventions available for patent protection to help maintain America’s global innovation leadership.”

Click here to view text of the bill. Click here to view a PERA fact sheet.

Background:

Unfortunately, due to a series of Supreme Court decisions, patent eligibility law in the United States has become confused, constricted, and unclear in recent years. This has led to inconsistent case decisions, uncertainty in innovation and investment communities, and unpredictable business outcomes. This has resulted in a wide range of well-documented negative impacts. As of 2021, all 12 judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit have lamented the state of the law.Witnesses and stakeholders from a wide array of industries, fields, interest groups, and academia have testified and submitted comments confirming the uncertainty and detailing the detrimental effects of patent eligibility confusion in the United States.And there is now widespread bipartisan agreement in Congress and across all recent Administrations that reforms are necessary to restore the United States to a position of global strength and leadership in key areas of technology and innovation, personalized medicine, artificial intelligence, 5G, and blockchain.

The Patent Eligibility Restoration Act achieves this critical goal by restoring patent eligibility to important inventions across many fields to promote technology-based innovation. As a general approach, PERA maintains the existing statutory categories of eligible subject matter, which have worked well for over two centuries, and addresses concerns regarding inappropriate eligibility constraints by enumerating a specific but extensive list of excluded subject matter.

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