I have been waiting for developments on the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act (PERA) since I testified before the Subcommittee on Intellectual Property of the Senate Judiciary Committee in January 2024, and in the meantime have been encouraging clients in the diagnostics and natural products space not to give up hope. PERA finally took another step forward last week, when Representatives Kevin Kiley (R-CA) and Scott Peters (D-CA) introduced a House companion to PERA on September 6, 2024.
As explained in the press release from Rep. Kiley's office, PERA is bipartisan legislation crafted to "restore patent eligibility to inventions across many fields." As Rep. Kiley states:
The U.S. [currently] has one of the most restrictive patent systems in the world due to confusing rulings from the Supreme Court. The Patent Eligibility Restoration Act will allow American inventors to patent a wider variety of inventions that foreign nations, like China, already allow their own innovators to patent.
Legislative interest in PERA stems from "the basic principle that the patent system is central to promoting technology-based innovation," and the intention that restoring eligibility for important technologies "will spark economic growth, create jobs, and provide significant technological advancement for all Americans."
For more information on PERA, this article takes a look at its specific terms and notes that it would essentially turn back the clock to pre-Mayo, pre-Myriad days for life sciences technologies such as diagnostics and "isolated" natural products.
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