ICYMI: Senator Coons highlights his new bill to strengthen patent protections and boost U.S. innovation in new op-ed

“America’s innovators are critical to our national security, health, and economic vibrancy. Let’s make sure those people who do the hard work of discovery spend their time in the lab and the field, not in hearing rooms.”

August 03, 2023

WASHINGTON – In case you missed it, U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) published an op-ed in the Delaware Business Times that highlights his new legislation to strengthen the U.S. patent system and protect the intellectual property of America’s innovators by reforming the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB).

As Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Intellectual Property Subcommittee, Senator Coons has worked to make U.S. intellectual property law more reliable, effective, and predictable for American inventors and businesses. In June, Senator Coons introduced the bipartisan Promoting and Respecting Economically Vital American Innovation Leadership (PREVAIL) Act with Senators Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) to make commonsense reforms to the PTAB.

Senator Coons has also chaired a series of hearings focused on exploring the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on American innovation and how to regulate AI in a way that permits the United States to maintain its competitive edge. To ensure America continues to be the most innovative country on the planet and that it rewards research and development, Senator Coons also held a hearing to conduct oversight of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Delaware Business Times: VIEWPOINT: Stronger patent protections boost innovation

America’s patent system used to be the gold standard for the world. It incentivized innovators – in Delaware and across our country – to take risks that delivered new inventions that propelled our economy and improved people’s lives. Sadly, our patent system has been weakened significantly, gradually becoming less reliable and effective, and our innovators no longer have confidence their ideas will actually be protected.

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Few of those wounds to our patent system are bigger than the current state of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), an administrative body of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) designed to fast-track decision-making on patent validity. Created over a decade ago as an alternative to drawn-out federal court litigation, the PTAB was intended to be a quicker, less-expensive alternative to the court system.

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That’s why, alongside Senate colleagues Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), I introduced the bipartisan Promoting and Respecting Economically Vital American Innovation Leadership (PREVAIL) Act. This bill will reform the PTAB so that patent holders can get back to what really matters – innovation – rather than beating back constant challenges to their protected discoveries.