Senators Coons, Tillis celebrate bipartisan passage of their PREVAIL Act by the Senate Judiciary Committee

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) today celebrated the bipartisan passage of their Promoting and Respecting Economically Vital American Innovation Leadership (PREVAIL) Act out of the Senate Judiciary Committee by a bipartisan vote of 11-10.

"Abuse of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) has ended America's run as the global gold standard for innovation and has caused us to fall behind China in the development of emerging technologies," said Senator Coons. "Commonsense reforms to the PTAB like those in my PREVAIL Act will get our innovators out of the courtroom and back to the lab or field, so they can get back to making the technological breakthroughs that push our nation forward. I'm glad to see members of the Senate Judiciary Committee from across the political spectrum join Senator Tillis and me and advance PREVAIL to the Senate floor to strengthen the American innovation economy."

"To maintain the United States' position as the global leader in technology and innovation, we must work with inventors to improve and streamline our patent system," said Senator Tillis. "The PREVAIL Act makes commonsense changes to our patent approval system that will increase transparency, safeguard patents, eliminate duplicative legal proceedings, and encourage American inventors to design and create. I'm proud the Senate Judiciary Committee passed this legislation on a bipartisan basis."

The PREVAIL Act supports inventors, encourages investments in intellectual property, secures U.S. global technology leadership, and protects economic and national security. The bill builds on legislation that Senator Coons previously introduced to restore and strengthen the U.S. patent system.

The PREVAIL Act would reform the PTAB, the administrative body of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), to promote fair treatment for inventors, provide a true alternative to district court, and ensure the USPTO has the resources it needs to effectively administer a patent system that incentivizes American innovation and enables U.S. innovators to compete. The PREVAIL Act would also end USPTO fee diversion and support innovative small businesses.

The PTAB is designed to provide a faster, more efficient process for adjudicating patent validity than going to federal district court. However, the PTAB has more frequently been used to invalidate patent claims through proceedings that are duplicative of - not an alternative to - district court. The bill would limit the number of potential challenges to any particular patent, limit who can challenge it, and increase the burden of proof for showing that a patent is invalid in a PTAB proceeding.

The PREVAIL Act was introduced in August 2024 by Senators Coons and Tillis, who are the Chair and Ranking Member, respectively, of the Judiciary Committee's Intellectual Property Subcommittee.

The full text of the manager's amendment reported by the committee is available here.