Restoring America’s Leadership in Innovation Act of 2025
Sponsored By: Representative Massie
Introduced
Summary
Would restore first-to-invent patent rules and a one-year grace period while overturning key post-2011 patent procedures. It would also abolish the Patent Trial and Appeal Board and push many validity fights back toward courts.
Show full summary
- Inventors and startups would gain stronger protection from early disclosures because earlier conception and diligent reduction to practice matter again and there is a one-year grace period before filing.
- Parties that challenge patents and alleged infringers would lose AIA inter partes and post-grant review paths, and the PTAB would be replaced with a Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences, shifting most validity disputes toward judicial proceedings while keeping ex parte reexamination.
- Patent owners and licensees would get stronger rights: patents would carry a broad presumption of validity, individual claims would be presumed valid, patent terms would be tolled during validity challenges, injunctive relief would be presumptive, and patents would be treated as transferable private property.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
6 provisions identified: 4 benefits, 0 costs, 2 mixed.
Back to first-to-invent and grace period
If enacted, patents would go to the first to invent, not just the first to file. A one-year grace period before filing would return. The bill would reset what counts as prior art, including public use and sales, much like pre-AIA rules. Some inventor disclosures and common ownership would not count against you.
PTAB trials end; courts decide patents
The bill would end inter partes review and post-grant review at the patent office. It would abolish the PTAB and set up a Board for appeals and interferences only. A patent would be treated as private property that can be revoked only by a court, unless the owner agrees otherwise. You could still appeal Board decisions to the Federal Circuit or seek a district court review.
New revolving fund for patent fees
The bill would create a Treasury revolving fund for patent and trademark fees. Fees you pay to the PTO would go into this fund and stay available across years to run operations. On the start date (the first day of the first fiscal year after enactment), existing PTO balances would move in, and the old reserve fund would close after paying its bills.
Stronger injunctions and patent validity rules
If enacted, after a court finds infringement, judges would presume the owner is harmed. Accused infringers could rebut that only with clear and convincing proof. Patents and each claim would be presumed valid, and challengers must prove invalidity by clear and convincing evidence. The patent term would pause while validity is litigated, and courts could award damages for bad-faith challenges.
New line on what is patentable
The bill would change who can get a patent. Claims that exist in nature or only in the human mind would be excluded. Eligibility would be judged without using the novelty, nonobviousness, or written-description tests.
More filing secrecy, but fuller disclosure
Patent applications would not be published unless the applicant asks. Application details would stay private until a patent issues. Applicants would again need to disclose the best way they know to practice the invention, which could raise legal risk if they do not.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Massie
KY • R
Cosponsors
Kaptur
OH • D
Sponsored 10/24/2025
Roy
TX • R
Sponsored 10/24/2025
Davidson
OH • R
Sponsored 10/24/2025
Cloud
TX • R
Sponsored 10/24/2025
Gosar
AZ • R
Sponsored 10/24/2025
Luna
FL • R
Sponsored 1/13/2026
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
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