‘‘(d) DEFENSE TO CHALLENGE OF APPOINTMENT.— 
It shall be a defense to a challenge to the appointment 
of an administrative patent judge on the basis of the 
judge’s having been originally appointed by the Director 
that the administrative patent judge so appointed was act-
ing as a de facto officer.’’. 
(2) TECHNICAL
AND
CONFORMING
AMEND-
MENT.—The table of sections for chapter 1 of title 
35, United States Code, is amended by striking the 
item relating to section 6 and inserting the following 
new item: 
‘‘6. Board of patent appeals and interferences.’’. 
(c) APPEAL TO THE BOARD OF PATENT APPEALS 
AND INTERFERENCES.— 
(1) AMENDMENT.—Section 134 of title 35, 
United States Code, as reinstated by section 3(a) of 
this Act, is amended by striking subsection (c). 
(2) TECHNICAL
AND
CONFORMING
AMEND-
MENT.—The table of sections for chapter 12 of title 
35, United States Code, is amended by striking the 
item relating to section 134 and inserting the fol-
lowing new item: 
‘‘134. Appeal to the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences.’’. 
(d) APPEAL TO THE COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE 
FEDERAL CIRCUIT.—Section 141 of title 35, United 
States Code, is amended to read as follows: 
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‘‘§ 141. Appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Federal 
Circuit 
‘‘(a) EXAMINATIONS.—An applicant dissatisfied with 
the decision in an appeal to the Board of Patent Appeals 
and Interferences under section 134 may appeal the deci-
sion directly to the United States Court of Appeals for 
the Federal Circuit, or may seek review de novo in any 
district court of the United States of competent jurisdic-
tion. 
‘‘(b) REEXAMINATIONS.—A patent owner who is, in 
a reexamination proceeding, dissatisfied with the final de-
cision in an appeal to the Board of Patent Appeals and 
Interferences under section 134 may appeal the decision 
directly to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fed-
eral Circuit, or may seek review de novo in a district court 
of the United States of competent jurisdiction. 
‘‘(c) INTERFERENCE.—A party to an interference 
dissatisfied with the decision of the Board of Patent Ap-
peals and Interferences on the interference may appeal the 
decision to the United States Court of Appeals for the 
Federal Circuit, but such appeal shall be dismissed if any 
adverse party to such interference, within twenty days 
after the appellant has filed notice of appeal in accordance 
with section 142, files notice with the Director that the 
party elects to have all further proceedings conducted as 
provided in section 146. If the appellant does not, within 
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thirty days after filing of such notice by the adverse party, 
file a civil action under section 146, the decision appealed 
from shall govern the further proceedings in the case.’’. 
(e) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that— 
(1) the Patent Trial and Appeal Board shall be 
replaced with the former Board of Patent Appeals 
and Interferences; 
(2) with the abolishment of inter partes review 
and post-grant review proceedings, the Patent Trial 
and Appeal Board is no longer needed to conduct 
these duties; 
(3) unless otherwise in the context of an ex 
parte reexamination under chapter 30 of title 35, 
United States Code, the Board of Patent Appeals 
and Interferences will not be used to invalidate an 
already issued patent; 
(4) the changes described in paragraphs (1) 
through (3) will protect the rights of patent owners 
who have been granted a patent and ensure a fair, 
fully adjudicated proceeding to invalidate an issued 
patent; 
(5) the amendment to section 6 of title 35, 
United States Code, reflects Congress’s intent to re-
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quire a judicial proceeding to invalidate an issued 
patent; and 
(6) the amendments to section 134 of title 35, 
United States Code, and section 141 of title 35, 
United States Code, are intended to restore each re-
spective section to its prior state, but delete any ref-
erence to inter partes reexamination, which is no 
longer available. 
SEC. 6. ELIMINATION OF FEE DIVERSION AND FULL FUND-
ING OF THE UNITED STATES PATENT AND 
TRADEMARK OFFICE. 
(a) PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE FUNDING.— 
Section 42 of title 35, United States Code, is amended— 
(1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘(a) All fees’’ 
and inserting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Fees’’; 
(2) in subsection (b)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘(b) All fees’’ and inserting 
‘‘(b) CREDIT OF FEES.—Fees’’; and 
(B) by striking ‘‘Patent and Trademark 
Office Appropriation Account’’ and inserting 
‘‘United States Patent and Trademark Office 
Innovation Promotion Fund’’; 
(3) in subsection (c)— 
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(A) by striking ‘‘(1) To the extent’’ and all 
that follows through ‘‘fees’’ and inserting ‘‘(c) 
USE OF FEES.—(1) Fees’’; 
(B) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘shall be 
collected by and shall, subject to paragraph (3), 
be available to the Director’’ and inserting 
‘‘shall be collected by the Director and shall be 
available to the Director until expended’’; 
(C) by striking paragraph (2); and 
(D) by redesignating paragraph (3) as 
paragraph (2); 
(4) by redesignating subsections (d) and (e) as 
subsections (e) and (f), respectively; 
(5) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(d) REVOLVING FUND.— 
‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 
‘‘(A) FUND.—The term ‘Fund’ means the 
United States Patent and Trademark Office In-
novation Promotion Fund established under 
paragraph (2). 
‘‘(B) TRADEMARK ACT OF 1946.—The term 
‘Trademark Act of 1946’ means the Act enti-
tled ‘An Act to provide for the registration and 
protection of trademarks used in commerce, to 
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carry out the provisions of certain international 
conventions, and for other purposes’, approved 
July 5, 1946 (15 U.S.C. 1051 et seq.) (com-
monly referred to as the ‘Trademark Act of 
1946’ or the ‘Lanham Act’). 
‘‘(2) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in 
the Treasury a revolving fund to be known as the 
‘United States Patent and Trademark Office Inno-
vation Promotion Fund’. 
‘‘(3) DERIVATION OF RESOURCES.—There shall 
be deposited into the Fund any fees collected 
under— 
‘‘(A) this title; or 
‘‘(B) the Trademark Act of 1946. 
‘‘(4) EXPENSES.—Amounts deposited into the 
Fund under paragraph (3) shall be available, with-
out fiscal year limitation, to cover— 
‘‘(A) all expenses to the extent consistent 
with the limitation on the use of fees set forth 
in subsection (c), including all administrative 
and operating expenses, determined in the dis-
cretion of the Director to be ordinary and rea-
sonable, incurred by the Director for the contin-
ued operation of all services, programs, activi-
ties, and duties of the Office relating to patents 
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and trademarks, as such services, programs, ac-
tivities, and duties are described under— 
‘‘(i) this title; and 
‘‘(ii) the Trademark Act of 1946; and 
‘‘(B) all expenses incurred pursuant to any 
obligation, representation, or other commitment 
of the Office.’’; 
(6) in subsection (e), as so redesignated, by 
striking ‘‘The Director’’ and inserting ‘‘REFUNDS.— 
The Director’’; and 
(7) in subsection (f), as so redesignated, by 
striking ‘‘The Secretary’’ and inserting ‘‘REPORT.— 
The Secretary’’. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE; TRANSFER FROM AND TERMI-
NATION OF OBSOLETE FUNDS.— 
(1) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 
by subsection (a) shall take effect on the first day 
of the first fiscal year that begins on or after the 
date of the enactment of this Act. 
(2) REMAINING BALANCES.—There shall be de-
posited in the Fund, on the effective date described 
in paragraph (1), any available unobligated balances 
remaining in the Patent and Trademark Office Ap-
propriation Account, and in the Patent and Trade-
mark Fee Reserve Fund established under section 
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42(c)(2) of title 35, United States Code, as in effect 
on the day before the effective date. 
(3) TERMINATION OF RESERVE FUND.—Upon 
the payment of all obligated amounts in the Patent 
and Trademark Fee Reserve Fund under paragraph 
(2), the Patent and Trademark Fee Reserve Fund 
shall be terminated. 
SEC. 7. PATENTABILITY OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES AND 
SOFTWARE INVENTIONS. 
(a) AMENDMENT.—Section 101 of title 35, United 
States Code, is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘§ 101. Inventions patentable 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Whoever invents or discovers 
any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or 
composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement 
thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the condi-
tions and requirements of this title. 
‘‘(b) EXCEPTION.—A claimed invention is ineligible 
patent subject matter under subsection (a) if the claimed 
invention as a whole, as understood by a person having 
ordinary skill in the art, exists in nature independently 
of and prior to any human activity, or exists solely in the 
human mind. 
‘‘(c) ELIGIBILITY STANDARD.—The eligibility of a 
claimed invention under subsections (a) and (b) shall be 
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determined without regard as to the requirements or con-
ditions of sections 102, 103, and 112 of this title, or the 
claimed invention’s inventive concept.’’. 
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that— 
(1) the Supreme Court’s recent jurisprudence 
concerning subject matter patentability has harmed 
the progress of science and the useful arts; 
(2) the United States patent system must pro-
tect and encourage research and development in 
such scientific disciplines as would promote the 
progress of science and the useful arts by securing 
for limited times to inventors the exclusive rights to 
their discoveries and provide scientists in the life 
sciences, computer sciences, and other disciplines, 
with certainty that their discoveries and inventions 
are entitled to patent protection; and 
(3) this amendment effectively abrogates Alice 
Corp. v. CLS Bank International, 134 S. Ct. 2347 
(2014) and its predecessors to ensure that life 
sciences discoveries, computer software, and similar 
inventions and discoveries are patentable, and that 
those patents are enforceable. 
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SEC. 8. LIMITATIONS ON PRIOR ART. 
Section 102 of title 35, United States Code, is 
amended to read as follows: 
‘‘§ 102. Conditions for patentability; novelty 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A person shall be entitled to a 
patent unless— 
‘‘(1) the invention was known or used by others 
in this country, or patented or described in a printed 
publication in this or a foreign country, before the 
invention thereof by the applicant for patent; 
‘‘(2) the invention was patented or described in 
a printed publication in this or a foreign country or 
in public use or on sale in this country, more than 
one year prior to the date of the application for pat-
ent in the United States; 
‘‘(3) he has abandoned the invention; 
‘‘(4) the invention was first patented or caused 
to be patented, or was the subject of an inventor’s 
certificate, by the applicant or his legal representa-
tives or assigns in a foreign country prior to the 
date of the application for patent in this country on 
an application for patent or inventor’s certificate 
filed more than twelve months before the filing of 
the application in the United States; 
‘‘(5) the invention was described in (1) an ap-
plication for patent, published under section 122(b), 
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by another filed in the United States before the in-
vention by the applicant for patent or (2) a patent 
granted on an application for patent by another filed 
in the United States before the invention by the ap-
plicant for patent, except that an international appli-
cation filed under the treaty defined in section 
351(a) shall have the effects for the purposes of this 
subsection of an application filed in the United 
States only if the international application des-
ignated the United States and was published under 
Article 21(2) of such treaty in the English language; 
‘‘(6) he did not himself invent the subject mat-
ter sought to be patented; or 
‘‘(7)(A) during the course of an interference 
conducted under section 135 or section 291, another 
inventor involved therein establishes, to the extent 
permitted in section 104, that before such person’s 
invention thereof the invention was made by such 
other inventor and not abandoned, suppressed, or 
concealed; or 
‘‘(B) before such person’s invention thereof, the 
invention was made in this country by another in-
ventor who had not abandoned, suppressed, or con-
cealed it. In determining priority of invention under 
this subsection, there shall be considered not only 
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the respective dates of conception and reduction to 
practice of the invention, but also the reasonable 
diligence of one who was first to conceive and last 
to reduce to practice, from a time prior to concep-
tion by the other. 
‘‘(b) DISCLOSURES IN PATENT APPLICATIONS AND 
PATENTS.—A disclosure shall not be prior art to a claimed 
invention under this section if before the issuance of a pat-
ent— 
‘‘(1) the information disclosed was obtained di-
rectly or indirectly from the inventor or a joint in-
ventor; 
‘‘(2) the information disclosed to the Office or 
another party during the one-year period prior to 
the date of the application for patent had, before a 
patent application for the information was effectively 
filed, been publicly disclosed by the inventor or a 
joint inventor; or 
‘‘(3) the information disclosed and the claimed 
invention, not later than the effective filing date of 
the claimed invention, were owned by the same per-
son or subject to an obligation of assignment to the 
same person.’’. 
SEC. 9. RESTORING PATENTS AS A PROPERTY RIGHT. 
(a) PRIVATE PROPERTY PATENT RIGHT.— 
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(1) AMENDMENT.—Chapter 10 of title 35, 
United States Code, is amended by adding at the 
end the following new section: 
‘‘§ 106. Private property patent right 
‘‘A patent right is a private property right secured 
to an inventor upon issuance of the patent that shall only 
be revoked by a court ruling in a judicial proceeding, un-
less the patent owner consents to an administrative or 
other procedure.’’. 
(2) TECHNICAL
AND
CONFORMING
AMEND-
MENT.—The table of sections for chapter 10 of title 
35, United States Code, is amended by adding at 
the end the following new item: 
‘‘106. Private property patent right.’’. 
(b) OWNERSHIP; ASSIGNMENT.—Section 261 of title 
35, United States Code, is amended— 
(1) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘patents 
shall have the attributes of personal property’’ and 
inserting the following: ‘‘patents shall be recognized 
as private property rights’’; and 
(2) by inserting after the second sentence the 
following: 
‘‘As private property rights, applications for patents, 
patents, and interests therein shall be freely transferrable, 
in whole or in part, including conveyance by assignment 
or license. Any successors, heirs, assigns, or licensees of 
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a patent owner, who receive a lesser interest in a patent, 
shall be subject to any and all restrictions of their interest 
in the patent, provided that the successors, heirs, assigns, 
or licensees have actual or constructive notice of such re-
strictions.’’. 
(c) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that— 
(1) recent jurisprudence of the United States 
Supreme Court, including Impression Products Inc. 
v. Lexmark International, Inc., have harmed the 
progress of science and the useful arts by limiting 
the ability of patent owners to exclude unlicensed 
customers from their supply chains; and 
(2) meaningful patent rights must permit pat-
ent owners to freely assign their rights in whole, or 
in part, and to ensure that successors, heirs, or as-
signs of a patent owner, or their assigns, are duly 
bound by restrictions or exclusions set by patent 
owners on the use of their property. 
SEC. 10. ENDING AUTOMATIC PUBLICATION OF PATENT AP-
PLICATIONS. 
(a) AMENDMENT.—Section 122(b) of title 35, United 
States Code, is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(b) PUBLICATION.— 
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‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each application for a pat-
ent shall be published, in accordance with procedures 
determined by the Director, only upon the request of 
the patent applicant. 
‘‘(2) INFORMATION RELEASED ONCE A PATENT 
ISSUES.—No information concerning a patent appli-
cation shall be available to the public unless and 
until a patent issues.’’. 
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that— 
(1) automatic publication of patent applications 
after 18 months has harmed the progress of science 
and the useful arts by creating ‘‘prior art’’ by oper-
ation of law that prevents a patent owner from ap-
plying for a patent on the same invention if a patent 
does not issue; and 
(2) automatic publication of patent applications 
encourages early disclosure of claimed inventions 
and subjects innovative inventions and discoveries 
reduced to practice in the United States to theft or 
appropriation by foreign competitors. 
SEC. 11. PRESUMPTION OF VALIDITY; DEFENSES. 
(a) VALIDITY OF A PATENT IN ADJUDICATORY PRO-
CEEDINGS.—Section 282(a) of title 35, United States 
Code, is amended to read as follows: 
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‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 
‘‘(1) PRESUMPTION OF VALIDITY FOR A PAT-
ENT.—In any judicial or administrative proceeding 
conducted in any court or Federal agency (as de-
fined in section 201) or of any State, a patent issued 
under this title shall be presumed valid. 
‘‘(2) PRESUMPTION OF VALIDITY FOR CLAIMS 
OF A PATENT.—In any proceeding described under 
paragraph (1)— 
‘‘(A) each claim of a patent (whether in 
independent, dependent, or multiple dependent 
form) shall be presumed valid independently of 
the validity of other claims; and 
‘‘(B) dependent or multiple dependent 
claims shall be presumed valid even though de-
pendent upon an invalid claim. 
‘‘(3) BURDEN OF ESTABLISHING INVALIDITY.— 
In any proceeding described under paragraph (1) in 
which the validity of a patent is at issue, the burden 
of establishing invalidity of a patent or any claim 
thereof rests on the party asserting the invalidity by 
clear and convincing evidence.’’. 
(b) TOLLING PATENT TERM DURING JUDICIAL 
CHALLENGE.—Section 282 of title 35, United States 
Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: 
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‘‘(d) TOLLING OF PATENT TERM DURING VALIDITY 
CHALLENGE.—In an action involving a patent where the 
validity of the patent has been challenged, the patent term 
shall be tolled from the time the validity of the patent is 
challenged to the time of resolution of the validity issue 
by the court. The patent term shall resume once the valid-
ity challenge is resolved. The court may award damages 
to the patent owner in a case in which another party 
brought a validity claim against the patent in bad faith.’’. 
SEC. 12. INJUNCTION. 
Section 283 of title 35, United States Code, is 
amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘The’’ and inserting the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following new sub-
section: 
‘‘(b) PERMANENT INJUNCTION.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Upon a finding of infringe-
ment of a patent, the court shall presume that fur-
ther infringement of the patent would cause the pat-
ent owner irreparable harm. This presumption may 
be overcome only by a showing of clear and con-
vincing evidence by the infringing party that the 
patent owner would not be irreparably harmed by 
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further infringement of the patent. The patent 
owner is not required to make or sell a product cov-
ered by the patent to show irreparable harm. 
‘‘(2) PATENT OWNER DEFINED.—In this sub-
section, a ‘patent owner’ means the owner of the 
patent or an exclusive licensee of the patent.’’. 
SEC. 13. BEST MODE REQUIREMENT. 
Section 15 of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act 
(Public Law 112–29), including each amendment made by 
such section, is repealed and any provision amended by 
such section shall be amended to read as in effect on the 
day before the date of the enactment of such Act. 
Æ 
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