In a bipartisan move, Republican Senator Thom Tillis (NC) and Democratic Senator Chris Coons (DE) introduced the first of two bills, the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act of 2023, which would eliminate all judicially-created exceptions to U.S. patent eligibility law.
The senators said in a joint statement that their bill clarifying standards for patent eligibility and modifying procedures for challenging patents, “would restore patent eligibility to important inventions across many fields”.
The legislation was first introduced by Tillis last year. The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear several cases regarding patentability despite requests for clarity from both the Biden and Trump administrations.
The most recent bill would exclude specific categories from being patentable including mathematical formulas, mental processes, and unmodified natural materials while eliminating “all judicial exceptions to patent eligibility.”
Tillis and Coons were joined by Democratic Senators Dick Durbin (IL) and Mazie Hirono (HI) to announce a second separate bill to reform the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB).
For additional details regarding the legislation — https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/us-senators-introduce-bills-reform-patent-laws-2023-06-22/
