To promote the leadership of the United States in global innovation by establishing a robust patent system that restores and protects the right of inventors to own and enforce private property rights in inventions and discoveries, and for other purposes.
This bill attempts to fundamentally reshape the U.S. patent system by reverting to older patent law standards and removing several modern review procedures. The legislation switches from a "first-to-file" system back to a "first-to-invent" system, meaning the original inventor rather than the first person to file would receive patent protection, and restores a one-year grace period for inventors to file after public disclosure. The bill eliminates inter partes review and post-grant review proceedings, which currently allow third parties to challenge patent validity at the Patent and Trademark Office, and replaces the Patent Trial and Appeal Board with an older Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences, requiring that issued patents can only be invalidated through court proceedings rather than administrative reviews. It also broadens what can be patented by allowing patents on software and scientific discoveries that recent Supreme Court decisions had restricted, ends the automatic publication of patent applications after 18 months, makes patents harder to challenge by imposing a "clear and convincing evidence" standard for proving invalidity, and presumes that patent infringement causes irreparable harm justifying court-ordered injunctions. The bill directs all patent and trademark office fees collected to stay within the office rather than being diverted to the general treasury. The legislation does not specify funding amounts or implementation timelines but indicates changes would take effect at the start of the first fiscal year after enactment.
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