‘‘(b) STAYING OF OTHER PROCEEDINGS.—[If, after 
an opposition proceeding has been instituted under this 
chapter, a request for reexamination under section 302 or 
section 311 is made by or on behalf of a person other than 
the opposer or the same real party in interest, such reex-
amination shall be stayed during the pendency of any op-
position proceeding under this chapter.]’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of chapters 
for part III of title 35, United States Code, is amended 
by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘32. Opposition Procedures ...........................................................
321.’’. 
SEC. 3. PUBLICATION OF PATENT APPLICATIONS. 
Section 122 of title 35, United States Code, is 
amended by striking subsection (c) and redesignating sub-
section (d) as subsection (c). 
SEC. 4. SUBMISSIONS BY THIRD PARTIES. 
Section 131 of title 35, United States Code, is 
amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘The Director’’ and inserting 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(b) THIRD PARTY SUBMISSIONS.—Any party shall 
have the opportunity to submit for consideration and for 
inclusion in the record, prior art (including, but not lim-
ited to, evidence of knowledge or use, or public use or sale, 
under section 102), to determine whether the invention
was known or used, or was in public use, or on sale, under 
section 102 or would have been obvious under section 103. 
The Director shall consider such submissions if the re-
quest— 
‘‘(1) is made in writing not later than— 
‘‘(A) 6 months after the date on which the 
patent application is published under section 
122, or 
‘‘(B) before the date on which a notice of 
allowance is mailed under section 151 for a pat-
ent on the invention, 
whichever occurs first; 
‘‘(2) is accompanied by the payment of a fee es-
tablished by the Director under section 41 for third 
party submissions; 
‘‘(3) sets forth the teaching and applicability of 
each reference and the basis on which the submis-
sion is offered; and 
‘‘(4) includes a sworn declaration attesting to 
the relevance and accuracy of the submissions. 
Information submitted under this subsection shall be con-
sidered during the examination of the patent application.’’. 
SEC. 5. EFFECT OF NOTICES OF INFRINGEMENT. 
A notice by a patent holder alleging infringement of 
the patent shall not be deemed sufficient to subject a re-
cipient of the notice to liability for willful infringement of 
the patent unless the notice would cause the recipient to 
have standing in a proceeding pursuant to a motion for 
declaratory judgment with respect to the subject matter 
of the notice. 
SEC. 6. INJUNCTIONS. 
Section 283 of title 35, United States Code, is 
amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘The several’’ and inserting ‘‘(a) 
IN GENERAL.—The several’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(b) GROUNDS
FOR GRANTING INJUNCTION.—A 
court shall not grant an injunction under this section un-
less it finds that the patentee is likely to suffer irreparable 
harm that cannot be remedied by payment of money dam-
ages. In making or rejecting such a finding, the court shall 
not presume the existence of irreparable harm, but rather 
the court shall consider and weigh evidence, if any, tend-
ing to establish or negate any equitable factor relevant to 
a determination of the existence of irreparable harm, in-
cluding, but not limited to, the extent to which the pat-
entee makes use of the technology claimed by the patent.’’.
SEC. 7. INTER PARTES REEXAMINATION. 
(a) ESTOPPEL PROVISION.—Section 315(c) of title 
35, United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘or could 
have raised’’. 
(b) 
APPLICABILITY.—Notwithstanding 
section 
4608(a) of the Intellectual Property and Communications 
Reform Act of 1999, as enacted by section 1000(a)(9) of 
Public Law 106–113 (41 U.S.C. note), sections 311 
through 318 of title 35, United States Code, as amended 
by this section, shall apply to any patent that issues from 
an original application filed before, on, or after November 
29, 1999. 
SEC. 8. NONOBVIOUSNESS. 
Section 103 of title 35, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(d)(1) A business method invention shall be pre-
sumed obvious under this section if the only significant 
difference between the combined teachings of the prior art 
and the claimed invention is that the claimed invention 
is appropriate for use with a computer technology, un-
less— 
‘‘(A) the application of the computer technology 
is novel; or 
‘‘(B) the computer technology is novel and not 
the subject of another patent or patent application.
‘‘(2)(A) An applicant or patentee may rebut the pre-
sumption under paragraph (1) upon a showing by a pre-
ponderance of the evidence that the invention is not obvi-
ous to persons of ordinary skill in all relevant arts. 
‘‘(B) Those areas of art which are relevant for pur-
poses of subparagraph (A) include the field of the business 
method and the field of the computer implementation.’’. 
SEC. 9. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 100(e) of title 35, United 
States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘or inter partes reex-
amination under section 311’’ and inserting ‘‘inter partes 
reexamination under section 311, or an opposition under 
section 321,’’. 
(b) APPEAL TO COURT OF APPEALS.—(1) Section 
141 of title 35, United States Code, is amended in the 
first sentence, by inserting ‘‘or a final determination of 
a panel of administrative patent judges under chapter 32 
of this title’’ after ‘‘134 of this title’’. 
(2) Section 143 of title 35, United States Code, is 
amended by inserting after the third sentence the fol-
lowing: ‘‘In any opposition proceeding, the panel of admin-
istrative patent judges making the determination in the 
proceeding shall submit to the court in writing the 
grounds for the decision of the panel, addressing all the 
issues involved in the appeal.’’
SEC. 10. EFFECTIVE DATE. 
Except as provided in section 7(b), the amendments 
made by this Act shall apply to patents issued, and appli-
cations for patent that are made, on and after the date 
of the enactment of this Act. 
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