Both houses of Congress recently introduced a new, bipartisan bill that could have significant impacts on patent law. The Realizing Engineering, Science, and Technology Opportunities by Restoring Exclusive (RESTORE) Patent Rights Act of 2024 is a legislative proposal aimed at enhancing the enforcement rights of patent holders in the United States. It was introduced on July 30, 2024 in the U.S. Senate by Chris Coons (D-DE) and Tom Cotton (R-AR) and in the House by Representatives by Nathaniel Moran (R-Texas) and Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.). The bill seeks to address what the legislators see as a critical weakening of patent rights following the Supreme Court’s 2006 decision, eBay Inc. v. MercExchange, L.L.C.
The RESTORE Act would establish a “rebuttable presumption” in favor of granting permanent injunctions to patent holders who win infringement cases, thereby reversing the more stringent requirements imposed by the eBay ruling. The eBay decision, which reversed more than 200 years of history in which permanent injunctions were regularly granted in patent infringement cases, introduced a four-factor test that courts must apply before issuing an injunction, significantly reducing the number of injunctions granted.
Senator Coons emphasized the bill’s importance by stating, “As our Founding Fathers enshrined in the Constitution, the right to exclude others from making and using a patented invention is the basic foundation of our patent system. However, having a right to exclude is meaningless when courts do not enforce that right. … The RESTORE Patent Rights Act will give the long-established exclusivity right teeth again to protect innovation and ensure our continued leadership and competitiveness on the global stage.”
Similarly, Senator Cotton underscored the bipartisan nature of the bill, noting, “American ingenuity should be rewarded and protected. Current patent law fails to protect inventors and leaves them vulnerable to intellectual property theft…. This bipartisan legislation will help solidify America’s edge in technological innovation.”
Representative Moran echoed these sentiments, stating, “American innovation is only as strong as the confidence in knowing ideas cannot be stolen by competitors. In the last two decades, innovators have found it harder to obtain a permanent injunction from U.S. courts, which stops bad actors from stealing their intellectual property (IP). Our legislation will restore the rights of American innovators by ensuring permanent injunctions are accessible from U.S. courts.”
Congresswoman Dean relayed similar sentiments: “Enforceable patents are vital to our ability to invent, improve and advance – yet today, it is increasingly difficult for patent holders to enforce their rights through permanent injunctions, even after proving infringement in court. The bipartisan, bicameral RESTORE Act addresses this issue and safeguards American innovation.”
On the other hand, critics such as Tom Cotter, a professor at the University of Minnesota Law School, suggest that the bill may give patent owners an excessive amount of leverage to extract licenses from would-be infringers.
Others suggest the effects would be more restrained, arguing that the burden simply shifts from one party to the other to prove whether an injunction should or should not apply, and that this would not automatically mean a flurry of injunctions.
The intellectual property lawyers at Panitch Schwarze are carefully monitoring the progress of the bill, which still must be voted on before it becomes law. If you have any questions about how U.S. laws impact the rights of patent owners, our attorneys are happy to help. Contact us at info@panitchlaw.com.