I 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7366 
To reform and improve procedures for amending patents subject to post- 
issuance review proceedings of the United States Patent and Trademark 
Office, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 20, 2018 
Mr. ISSA introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To reform and improve procedures for amending patents 
subject to post-issuance review proceedings of the United 
States Patent and Trademark Office, and for other pur-
poses. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Revitalizing Amend-
ment Motions for Patents Act of 2018’’ or the ‘‘RAMP 
Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. REFORM OF PATENT AMENDMENTS IN PTAB PRO-
CEEDINGS. 
(a) PROCEDURES FOR MOTIONS TO AMEND.—Sec-
tion 316(d) of title 35, United States Code, is amended 
by inserting at the end the following new paragraphs: 
‘‘(4) PROCEDURES FOR MOTIONS TO AMEND.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—With respect to a mo-
tion to amend filed under paragraph (1) or (2) 
that proposes 1 or more substitute claims— 
‘‘(i) a substitute claim shall be con-
strued according to its broadest reasonable 
interpretation for the purposes of deter-
mining the patentability of the substitute 
claim; 
‘‘(ii) the petitioner shall be given a 
reasonable opportunity to respond to each 
substitute claim; 
‘‘(iii) the Director shall assign an ex-
aminer to examine each proposed sub-
stitute claim (giving consideration to the 
evidence and the arguments presented by 
the parties) and to submit to the Patent 
Trial and Appeal Board an advisory re-
port, which shall be non-binding, on the 
patentability of each such substitute claim; 
and 
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‘‘(iv) the Board shall consider such re-
port in deciding the motion. 
‘‘(B) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing 
in subparagraph (A) may be construed as af-
fecting the provisions of subsection (a)(11). 
‘‘(C) MATTERS NOT CONSIDERED ON AP-
PEAL.—With respect to an appeal described 
under section 319, a party to the appeal may 
not challenge the decision of the Patent Trial 
and Appeal Board regarding a motion to amend 
under this paragraph on the basis of— 
‘‘(i) the qualifications or expertise of 
the examiner assigned by the Director 
under subparagraph (A); or 
‘‘(ii) any content of the report sub-
mitted pursuant to subparagraph (A) that 
was not expressly relied on by the Patent 
Trial and Appeal Board in such decision. 
‘‘(5) EXPEDITED
POST-REVIEW
REEXAMINA-
TION.— 
‘‘(A) AVAILABILITY OF EXPEDITED POST- 
REVIEW REEXAMINATION.—An owner of a pat-
ent may file a request for an expedited post-re-
view reexamination by the Office of a chal-
lenged patent claim for which a final written 
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‘‘(B) PROCEDURES
FOR
REQUEST
AND 
CONDUCT OF REEXAMINATION.—A request for 
expedited post-review reexamination under this 
paragraph and the conduct of such reexamina-
tion under this paragraph shall be subject to 
section 302 and sections 304 through 307, ex-
cept that— 
‘‘(i) the Director shall establish, by 
regulation, a time period (which may not 
exceed 60 days) after the time for filing an 
appeal of a final written decision of the 
Patent Trial and Appeal Board under sec-
tion 318(a) has expired, or after the final 
disposition of any such appeal, during 
which the owner of the patent may request 
an expedited post-review reexamination 
under this paragraph; 
‘‘(ii) only the owner of the patent may 
file a request for an expedited post-review 
reexamination under this paragraph; 
‘‘(iii) for the purposes of section 304, 
a determination that a substantial new 
question of unpatentability is raised shall 
be assumed, and not later than 14 days 
after a request for an expedited post-re-
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view reexamination is filed, the Director 
shall order the reexamination of the chal-
lenged patent claim identified in the re-
quest if the Director determines that the 
request meets the requirements of subpara-
graph (A); 
‘‘(iv) the owner of the patent may not 
file a statement under section 304 and the 
reexamination 
shall 
begin 
immediately 
upon the order of the reexamination; 
‘‘(v) in any expedited post-review reex-
amination proceeding under this para-
graph, the owner of the patent may only 
propose amended or new claims that are 
patentably distinct from the challenged 
patent claim of which the expedited post- 
review reexamination was requested; 
‘‘(vi) the full record of the inter partes 
review upon which the post-review reexam-
ination was requested shall be made avail-
able for consideration during the reexam-
ination; and 
‘‘(vii) the reexamination (excluding 
any appeal thereof) shall be concluded on 
the date that is not later than 180 days 
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after the date on which the Director orders 
the reexamination.’’. 
(b) PATENT OWNER’S ACTIONS.—Section 315(b) of 
title 35, United States Code, is amended to read as fol-
lows: 
‘‘(b) PATENT OWNER’S ACTIONS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An inter partes review may 
not be instituted if the petition requesting the pro-
ceeding is filed more than 1 year after the date on 
which the petitioner, real party in interest, or privy 
of the petitioner is served with a complaint alleging 
infringement of the patent. 
‘‘(2) EXCEPTION FOR JOINDER.—The time lim-
itation in paragraph (1) shall not apply to a request 
for joinder under subsection (c). 
‘‘(3) EXCEPTION FOR AMENDED CLAIMS.—The 
time limitation in paragraph (1) shall not apply to 
a challenge in a petition for inter partes review 
against a patent claim that was amended pursuant 
to section 316(d)(5) unless the complaint was served 
after the issuance of a certificate under section 
307(a) for the patent claim.’’. 
(c) AMENDMENT TO PROCEDURES FOR ISSUANCE OF 
CERTIFICATE.—Section 318(b) of title 35, United States 
Code, is amended— 
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(1) by striking ‘‘and the time for appeal’’ and 
inserting ‘‘, the time for appeal’’; and 
(2) by inserting ‘‘and the time for filing a re-
quest under section 316(d)(5)(A) has expired or any 
post-review reexamination has been terminated,’’ 
after ‘‘terminated,’’. 
SEC. 3. CLARIFICATION OF WHICH CLAIMS FOR WHICH THE 
PTAB SHALL ISSUE A FINAL WRITTEN DECI-
SION. 
Section 318(a) of title 35, United States Code, is 
amended by striking ‘‘challenged by the petitioner’’ and 
inserting ‘‘on which the inter partes review was insti-
tuted’’. 
Æ 
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