119-s1546

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1546 Introduced in Senate

    (IS) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 S. 1546

 To amend title 35, United States Code, to address matters relating to 
 patent subject matter eligibility, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

 May 1, 2025

 Mr. Tillis (for himself and Mr. Coons) introduced the following bill; 
 which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To amend title 35, United States Code, to address matters relating to 
 patent subject matter eligibility, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``Patent Eligibility Restoration Act 
of 2025''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

 Congress finds the following:

    (1) As of the day before the date of enactment of this Act, 
 patent eligibility jurisprudence interpreting 

section 101 of 
 title 35, United States Code, requires significant modification 
 and clarification.

    (2) For many years after the original enactment of 

section 101 of title 35, United States Code, the Supreme Court of the 
 United States and other courts created judicial exceptions to 
 the wording of that section, thereby rendering an increasing 
 number of inventions ineligible for patent protection.

    (3) Efforts by judges of district courts and courts of 
 appeals of the United States to apply the exceptions described 
 in paragraph

    (2) to specific circumstances have led to 
 extensive confusion and a lack of consistency--
        (A) throughout the judicial branch of the Federal 
 Government and Federal agencies; and
        (B) among patent practitioners.

    (4) Many judges of the United States Court of Appeals for 
 the Federal Circuit and of various district courts of the 
 United States have explicitly expressed the need for more 
 guidance with respect to the meaning of 

section 101 of title 
 35, United States Code, and many patent owners, and persons 
 that engage with patent owners, complain that the 
 interpretation of that section is extremely confusing and 
 difficult to discern and apply with any confidence.

    (5) Under this Act, and the amendments made by this Act, 
 the state of the law shall be as follows:
        (A) All judicial exceptions to patent eligibility 
 are eliminated.
        (B) Any invention or discovery that can be claimed 
 as a useful process, machine, manufacture, or 
 composition of matter, or any useful improvement 
 thereof, is eligible for patent protection, except as 
 explicitly provided in 

section 101 of title 35, United 
 States Code, as amended by this Act, as described in 
 subparagraphs
            (D) and
        (E) of this paragraph.
            (C) Sections 102, 103, and 112 of title 35, United 
 States Code, will continue to prescribe the 
 requirements for obtaining a patent, but no such 
 requirement will be used in determining patent 
 eligibility.
            (D) The following inventions shall not be eligible 
 for patent protection:
            (i) A mathematical formula that is not part 
 of an invention that is in a category described 
 in subparagraph
        (B) .
            (ii) A mental process performed solely in 
 the mind of a human being.
            (iii) An unmodified human gene, as that 
 gene exists in the human body.
            (iv) An unmodified human gene that is 
 isolated from the human body, but otherwise the 
 same as that gene exists in the human body.
            (v) An unmodified natural material, as that 
 material exists in nature.
            (vi) A process that is substantially 
 economic, financial, business, social, 
 cultural, or artistic.
        (E) Under the exception described in subparagraph
            (D) 
            (vi) --
            (i) process claims drawn solely to the 
 steps undertaken by human beings in methods of 
 doing business, performing dance moves, 
 offering marriage proposals, and the like shall 
 not be eligible for patent coverage, and adding 
 a non-essential reference to a computer by 
 merely stating, for example, ``do it on a 
 computer'' shall not establish such 
 eligibility; and
            (ii) any process that cannot be practically 
 performed without the use of a machine 
 (including a computer) or manufacture shall be 
 eligible for patent coverage.

SEC. 3. PATENT ELIGIBILITY.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 10 of title 35, United States Code, is 
amended--

    (1) in 

section 100--
        (A) in subsection

    (b) , by striking ``includes a new 
 use of a known process'' and inserting ``includes a 
 use, application, or method of manufacture of a known 
 or naturally-occurring process''; and
        (B) by adding at the end the following:
 ``

    (k) The term `useful' means, with respect to an invention or 
discovery, that the invention or discovery has a specific and practical 
utility from the perspective of a person of ordinary skill in the art 
to which the invention or discovery pertains.''; and

    (2) by amending 

section 101 to read as follows:
``

Sec. 101. Patent eligibility
 ``

    (a) In General.--Whoever invents or discovers any useful process, 
machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any useful 
improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject only to the 
exclusions in subsection

    (b) and to the further conditions and 
requirements of this title.
 ``

    (b) Eligibility Exclusions.--
 ``

    (1) In general.--Subject to paragraph

    (2) , a person may 
 not obtain a patent for any of the following, if claimed as 
 such:
 ``
        (A) A mathematical formula that is not part of a 
 claimed invention in a category described in subsection

    (a) .
 ``
        (B) A process that is substantially economic, 
 financial, business, social, cultural, or artistic, 
 even though at least 1 step in the process refers to a 
 machine or manufacture.
 ``
            (C) A process that--
 ``
            (i) is a mental process performed solely 
 in the human mind; or
 ``
            (ii) occurs in nature wholly independent 
 of, and prior to, any human activity.
 ``
            (D) An unmodified human gene, as that gene exists 
 in the human body.
 ``
        (E) An unmodified natural material, as that 
 material exists in nature.
 ``

    (2) Conditions.--For the purposes of--
 ``
        (A) subparagraphs
        (A) and
        (B) of paragraph

    (1) , 
 the claimed invention shall not be excluded from 
 eligibility for a patent if the invention cannot 
 practically be performed without the use of a machine 
 or manufacture;
 ``
        (B) paragraph

    (1)
            (D) , a human gene shall not be 
 considered to be unmodified if that human gene is--
 ``
            (i) purified, enriched, or otherwise 
 altered by human activity; or
 ``
            (ii) otherwise employed in a useful 
 invention or discovery; and
 ``
            (C) paragraph

    (1)
        (E) , a natural material shall 
 not be considered to be unmodified if that natural 
 material is--
 ``
            (i) isolated, purified, enriched, or 
 otherwise altered by human activity; or
 ``
            (ii) otherwise employed in a useful 
 invention or discovery.
 ``
            (c) Eligibility.--
 ``

    (1) In general.--In determining whether, under this 
 section, a claimed invention is eligible for a patent, 
 eligibility shall be determined--
 ``
        (A) by considering the claimed invention as a 
 whole and without discounting or disregarding any claim 
 element; and
 ``
        (B) without regard to--
 ``
            (i) the manner in which the claimed 
 invention was made;
 ``
            (ii) whether a claim element is known, 
 conventional, routine, or naturally occurring;
 ``
            (iii) the state of the applicable art, as 
 of the date on which the claimed invention is 
 invented; or
 ``
            (iv) any other consideration in 

section 102, 103, or 112.
 ``

    (2) Infringement action.--
 ``
        (A) In general.--In an action brought for 
 infringement under this title, the court, at any time, 
 may determine whether an invention or discovery that is 
 a subject of the action is eligible for a patent under 
 this section, including on motion of a party when there 
 are no genuine issues of material fact.
 ``
        (B) Limited discovery.--With respect to a 
 determination described in subparagraph
        (A) , the court 
 may consider limited discovery relevant only to the 
 eligibility described in that subparagraph before 
 ruling on a motion described in that subparagraph.''.

    (b) Technical and Conforming Amendment.--The table of sections for 
chapter 10 of title 35, United States Code, is amended by striking the 
item relating to 

section 101 and inserting the following:

``101. Patent eligibility.''.

SEC. 4. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.

    (a) Obviousness-Type Double Patenting.--Nothing in this Act, or any 
amendment made by this Act, may be construed to affect or alter the 
judicially-created doctrine of obviousness-type double patenting.

    (b) Insignificant Extra-Solution Activity.--With respect to the 
exclusions to patent eligibility described in subparagraphs
        (A) and
        (B) of 

section 101

    (b)

    (1) of title 35, United States Code, as added by 

section 3 of this Act, the inclusion of pre- or post-solution activity 
by a computer (or other machine or manufacture) in claim language shall 
not be sufficient to confer patent eligibility on the claim if that 
computer (or other machine or manufacture) is not necessary to 
practically perform the invention.
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