Restoring America’s Leadership in Innovation Act of 2021
Latest action · Nov 1, 2022 Referred to the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedNov 4, 2021
- Passed HouseNot reached
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Restoring America's Leadership in Innovation Act of 2021
This bill revises several aspects of patent law.
The bill changes the U.S. patent system back to a first-to-invent system, in which the first inventor to conceive of an invention is entitled to a patent. Currently, the first person to file an application that meets all the necessary requirements is entitled to the patent.
Several types of administrative patent challenge proceedings are abolished, as well as the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) body that decides those proceedings.
The bill relaxes the standard for what constitutes patent-eligible subject matter. The only ineligible inventions shall be those that exist in nature independent or prior to human activity or that exist solely in the human mind.
The bill also makes it easier for a patent owner that has won an infringement case in court to secure a permanent injunction against the infringing defendant. Specifically, there shall be a presumption that further infringement would cause irreparable harm to the prevailing patent owner, and the burden shall be on the infringer to prove otherwise. (Currently, a prevailing patent owner seeking a permanent injunction must prove, among other things, that further infringement would cause irreparable harm.)
The bill limits what types of publications shall be treated as prior art that could be used to make an invention be considered to be anticipated or obvious (and therefore not patentable).
The bill authorizes the PTO to keep and spend all the fees that it collects.
Cosponsors 26
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Nov 4, 2021 to Dec 6, 2022; 3 are original cosponsors, there from the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-TX | Louie Gohmert | Original | Nov 4, 2021 |
| R-AZ | Paul A. Gosar | Original | Nov 4, 2021 |
| R-CA | Tom McClintock | Original | Nov 4, 2021 |
| R-TX | Pete Sessions | Jan 12, 2022 | |
| R-GA | Marjorie Taylor Greene | Jan 25, 2022 | |
| R-FL | W. Gregory Steube | Mar 7, 2022 | |
| R-CA | Doug LaMalfa | Mar 17, 2022 | |
| R-AL | Barry Moore | Mar 24, 2022 | |
| R-FL | Byron Donalds | Mar 24, 2022 | |
| R-CO | Lauren Boebert | Mar 31, 2022 | |
| R-WI | Thomas P. Tiffany | Mar 31, 2022 | |
| R-TX | Lance Gooden | Apr 4, 2022 | |
| R-TX | Pat Fallon | Apr 4, 2022 | |
| R-OH | Warren Davidson | Apr 5, 2022 | |
| R-WV | Alexander X. Mooney | Apr 6, 2022 | |
| R-SC | Ralph Norman | Apr 7, 2022 | |
| R-SD | Dusty Johnson | Apr 14, 2022 | |
| R-TX | Michael Cloud | May 3, 2022 | |
| R-TX | Chip Roy | May 6, 2022 | |
| R-CO | Ken Buck | May 6, 2022 | |
| R-FL | Bill Posey | May 17, 2022 | |
| R-VA | Bob Good | Jul 1, 2022 | |
| R-WA | Jaime Herrera Beutler | Jul 28, 2022 | |
| R-TX | Jodey C. Arrington | Aug 12, 2022 | |
| R-FL | Matt Gaetz | Nov 29, 2022 | |
| R-GA | Barry Loudermilk | Dec 6, 2022 |
Committees 1
Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.
| Chamber | Committee | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| House | Judiciary Committee | Referred Nov 4, 2021 |
| Courts, Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence, and the Internet Subcommittee | Referred Nov 1, 2022 |
Actions 3
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Nov 1, 2022Referred to the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet.
- Nov 4, 2021Introduced in House
- Nov 4, 2021Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Research
What has been written about this bill: committee reports, cost estimates, the sponsor’s authority statement, printed hearings and the Congressional Research Service’s work.
Constitutional authority
The sponsor’s statement, as printed in the Congressional Record, vol. 167, no. 194, November 4, 2021, page H6208.
CRS reports 2
Congressional Research Service work that CRS links to this bill or the law it became, newest first.
Cite it 2
Products on other subjects that cite it, usually among other measures.
| Product | Title | Kind | Published |
|---|---|---|---|
| IF12563 | Patent-Eligible Subject Matter Reform: An Overview | Resource | Jan 16, 2026 |
| R47267 | Patents and Innovation Policy Archived | Report | Oct 3, 2022 |
Related bills 2
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| HR 7366 | Restoring America’s Leadership in Innovation Act of 2020 | Reintroduction of | Jun 25, 2020 |
| HR 8134 | Restoring America’s Leadership in Innovation Act of 2024 | Reintroduced Bill | Apr 26, 2024 |
Titles 2
Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.
- Official Title as Introduced
- 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.
- Short Title(s) as Introduced
- Restoring America’s Leadership in Innovation Act of 2021
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Commerce.
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Nov 4, 2021Introduced in House
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.
