I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 9474 

To amend title 35, United States Code, to address matters relating to patent 

subject matter eligibility, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 6, 2024 

Mr. KILEY (for himself and Mr. PETERS) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend title 35, United States Code, to address matters 

relating to patent subject matter eligibility, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Patent Eligibility Res5 toration Act of 2024’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) As of the day before the date of enactment 

9 of this Act, patent eligibility jurisprudence interVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:42 Sep 12, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9474.IH H9474

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1 preting section 101 of title 35, United States Code, 

2 requires significant modification and clarification. 

3 (2) For many years after the original enact4 ment of section 101 of title 35, United States Code, 

5 the Supreme Court of the United States and other 

6 courts created judicial exceptions to the wording of 

7 that section, thereby rendering an increasing number 

8 of inventions ineligible for patent protection. 

9 (3) Efforts by judges of district courts and 

10 courts of appeals of the United States to apply the 

11 exceptions described in paragraph (2) to specific cir12 cumstances have led to extensive confusion and a 

13 lack of consistency— 

14 (A) throughout the judicial branch of the 

15 Federal Government and Federal agencies; and 

16 (B) among patent practitioners. 

17 (4) Many judges of the United States Court of 

18 Appeals for the Federal Circuit and of various dis19 trict courts of the United States have explicitly ex20 pressed the need for more guidance with respect to 

21 the meaning of section 101 of title 35, United States 

22 Code, and many patent owners, and persons that en23 gage with patent owners, complain that the interpre24 tation of that section is extremely confusing and dif25 ficult to discern and apply with any confidence. 


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1 (5) Under this Act, and the amendments made 

2 by this Act, the state of the law shall be as follows: 

3 (A) All judicial exceptions to patent eligi4 bility are eliminated. 

5 (B) Any invention or discovery that can be 

6 claimed as a useful process, machine, manufac7 ture, or composition of matter, or any useful 

8 improvement thereof, is eligible for patent pro9 tection, except as explicitly provided in section 

10 101 of title 35, United States Code, as amend11 ed by this Act, as described in subparagraphs 

12 (D) and (E) of this paragraph. 

13 (C) Sections 102, 103, and 112 of title 35, 

14 United States Code, will continue to prescribe 

15 the requirements for obtaining a patent, but no 

16 such requirement will be used in determining 

17 patent eligibility. 

18 (D) The following inventions shall not be 

19 eligible for patent protection: 

20 (i) A mathematical formula that is 

21 not part of an invention that is in a cat22 egory described in subparagraph (B). 

23 (ii) A mental process performed solely 

24 in the mind of a human being. 


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1 (iii) An unmodified human gene, as 

2 that gene exists in the human body. 

3 (iv) An unmodified natural material, 

4 as that material exists in nature. 

5 (v) A process that is substantially eco6 nomic, financial, business, social, cultural, 

7 or artistic. 

8 (E) Under the exception described in sub9 paragraph (D)(v)— 

10 (i) process claims drawn solely to the 

11 steps undertaken by human beings in 

12 methods of doing business, performing 

13 dance moves, offering marriage proposals, 

14 and the like shall not be eligible for patent 

15 coverage, and adding a non-essential ref16 erence to a computer by merely stating, for 

17 example, ‘‘do it on a computer’’ shall not 

18 establish such eligibility; and 

19 (ii) any process that cannot be prac20 tically performed without the use of a ma21 chine (including a computer) or manufac22 ture shall be eligible for patent coverage. 

23 SEC. 3. PATENT ELIGIBILITY. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 10 of title 35, United 

25 States Code, is amended— 


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1 (1) in section 100— 

2 (A) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘includes 

3 a new use of a known process’’ and inserting 

4 ‘‘includes a use, application, or method of man5 ufacture of a known or naturally-occurring 

6 process’’; and 

7 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘(k) The term ‘useful’ means, with respect to an in9 vention or discovery, that the invention or discovery has 

10 a specific and practical utility from the perspective of a 

11 person of ordinary skill in the art to which the invention 

12 or discovery pertains.’’; and 

13 (2) by amending section 101 to read as follows: 

14 ‘‘§ 101. Patent eligibility 

15 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Whoever invents or discovers 

16 any useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition 

17 of matter, or any useful improvement thereof, may obtain 

18 a patent therefor, subject only to the exclusions in sub19 section (b) and to the further conditions and requirements 

20 of this title. 

21 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY EXCLUSIONS.— 

22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), a 

23 person may not obtain a patent for any of the fol24 lowing, if claimed as such: 


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1 ‘‘(A) A mathematical formula that is not 

2 part of a claimed invention in a category de3 scribed in subsection (a). 

4 ‘‘(B)(i) Subject to clause (ii), a process 

5 that is substantially economic, financial, busi6 ness, social, cultural, or artistic, even though 

7 not less than 1 step in the process refers to a 

8 machine or manufacture. 

9 ‘‘(ii) The process described in clause (i) 

10 shall not be excluded from eligibility for a pat11 ent if the process cannot practically be per12 formed without the use of a machine or manu13 facture. 

14 ‘‘(C) A process that— 

15 ‘‘(i) is a mental process performed 

16 solely in the human mind; or 

17 ‘‘(ii) occurs in nature wholly inde18 pendent of, and prior to, any human activ19 ity. 

20 ‘‘(D) An unmodified human gene, as that 

21 gene exists in the human body. 

22 ‘‘(E) An unmodified natural material, as 

23 that material exists in nature. 

24 ‘‘(2) CONDITIONS.—For the purposes of sub25 paragraphs (D) and (E) of paragraph (1), a human 


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1 gene or natural material shall not be considered to 

2 be unmodified if the gene or material, as applicable, 

3 is— 

4 ‘‘(A) isolated, purified, enriched, or other5 wise altered by human activity; or 

6 ‘‘(B) otherwise employed in a useful inven7 tion or discovery. 

8 ‘‘(c) ELIGIBILITY.— 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In determining whether, 

10 under this section, a claimed invention is eligible for 

11 a patent, eligibility shall be determined— 

12 ‘‘(A) by considering the claimed invention 

13 as a whole and without discounting or dis14 regarding any claim element; and 

15 ‘‘(B) without regard to— 

16 ‘‘(i) the manner in which the claimed 

17 invention was made; 

18 ‘‘(ii) whether a claim element is 

19 known, conventional, routine, or naturally 

20 occurring; 

21 ‘‘(iii) the state of the applicable art, 

22 as of the date on which the claimed inven23 tion is invented; or 

24 ‘‘(iv) any other consideration in sec25 tion 102, 103, or 112. 


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1 ‘‘(2) INFRINGEMENT ACTION.— 

2 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In an action brought 

3 for infringement under this title, the court, at 

4 any time, may determine whether an invention 

5 or discovery that is a subject of the action is el6 igible for a patent under this section, including 

7 on motion of a party when there are no genuine 

8 issues of material fact. 

9 ‘‘(B) LIMITED DISCOVERY.—With respect 

10 to a determination described in subparagraph 

11 (A), the court may consider limited discovery 

12 relevant only to the eligibility described in that 

13 subparagraph before ruling on a motion de14 scribed in that subparagraph.’’. 

15 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

16 The table of sections for chapter 10 of title 35, United 

17 States Code, is amended by striking the item relating to 

18 section 101 and inserting the following: 

‘‘101. Patent eligibility.’’. 

Æ 


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