A bipartisan group of senators and congressional representatives reintroduced the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act (PERA), which aims to reform the law of patent eligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101. PERA seeks to address the challenges posed by recent Supreme Court decisions and restore clarity and predictability in the US patent system.
PERA preserves the existing categories of subject matter currently enumerated in § 101 but adds several categories of excluded subject matter. PERA proposes to eliminate all judicial exceptions to patent eligibility, specifying that certain categories, such as mathematical formulas that are not part of an invention, processes that a human could perform, mental processes, unmodified human genes, and unmodified natural material, are not eligible for patents.
A separate bipartisan group of senators and congressional representatives reintroduced the Promoting and Respecting Economically Vital American Innovation Leadership (PREVAIL) Act, which aims to protect and increase the value of US intellectual property rights by making significant reforms to the Patent Trial & Appeal Board.
PREVAIL seeks to limit Board challenges to entities that have been sued or threatened with a patent infringement lawsuit, close the statutory bar joinder loophole to prevent time-barred entities from joining instituted inter partes review (IPR) proceedings, and prevent serial petitions by applying estoppel at the time the challenge is filed instead of when the Board issues its final written decision.
