Plan will be viewed as vital to the future of US strength and broadly supported by entrepreneurs and startups that drive the economy

The United States has a long tradition of technological innovation, and U.S. inventors and innovators continue to drive the creation of new companies, jobs, and economic growth. Secure intellectual property (IP) rights are essential to spur this innovation. Critically, patents transform ideas into property that can be assigned and protected, allowing small businesses to attract investment and collaborate with other firms with the assurance that their ideas will not be stolen. For this reason, the community of inventors, entrepreneurs, and start-ups repeatedly emphasize the importance of secure IP rights in providing them a path to market entry, growth, and fair participation. However, there are actors who abuse the patent system to eliminate and extort competitors, stifling innovation by preying on start-ups, small businesses, and inventors that often do not have the resources to pursue expensive and time-consuming litigation. Some of the so-called Big Tech firms are known to infringe on patents and rely on large and well-compensated legal teams to drag out litigation and avoid penalties, or simply swallow fines as a cost of doing business. Other observers of the patent system decry “patent trolls,” who purportedly weaponize overly broad patents to extort legitimate businesses by initiating questionable lawsuits. Striking this balance—strengthening IP protections to promote innovation while minimizing the negative effects of bad actors—is central to the debate regarding two bills proposed earlier this year: the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act (PERA) and the Promoting and Respecting Economically Vital American Innovation Leadership (PREVAIL) Act. Combined, the two bills aim to strengthen IP protections by clarifying and expanding patent eligible subject matter, reducing duplicative litigation, and raising the standard for invalidating patents in certain situations. Proponents of the bills claim that they would facilitate the creation of new start-ups while also protecting them from predatory lawsuits. Detractors, however, assert that these bills would empower bad actors and ultimately hurt competition by making it harder to invalidate overly broad and vague patents.