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S. 1553: PREVAIL Act
119th Congress · introduced 2025-05-01 · Commerce · Latest: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
federal
Official title
PREVAIL Act
Plain summary
Promoting and Respecting Economically Vital American Innovation Leadership Act or the PREVAIL Act This bill addresses various issues relating to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), including by imposing additional requirements on administrative patent validity challenges (proceedings to review and potentially cancel issued patents) at the USPTO. The bill modifies provisions relating to inter partes reviews (IPRs) and other administrative patent validity proceedings, including by prohibiting an administrative patent judge who participated in deciding whether to institute an IPR (i.e., whether to allow the IPR to proceed based on the initial petition) from also participating in deciding the final outcome of the same IPR; prohibiting a person (individual or entity) from petitioning for an IPR against a patent unless the person meets certain standing requirements (currently, any person may petition for an IPR); prohibiting a person who has challenged a patent's validity in an IPR from raising the same challenges against the patent in other proceedings (e.g., district court) if the IPR has been instituted; and raising the burden that the petitioner in an IPR must meet to invalidate a previously issued patent claim. The bill also makes institutions of higher education (IHEs) and nonprofit entities that hold patents on behalf of IHEs eligible for reduced patent-related fees, including filing fees. (Currently, employees of IHEs are eligible for reduced fees but not the IHEs themselves.) The bill also makes fees collected by the USPTO available for the USPTO's use without further appropriations from Congress.
Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.
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Officials and money
Sponsor: Sen. Coons, Christopher A. [D-DE] · 3 cosponsors
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Words on this page, explained (2)
- Appropriation
- Money a legislature sets aside by law for a specific purpose. Government agencies may spend public money only as it has been appropriated.
- Bill
- A proposed law. It becomes law only if it passes the legislature and is signed by the president or governor (or a veto is overridden).
Plain meanings written from linked sources. All words.
Sources
- Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate)
- Congress.gov
- Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-119s1553.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/119/s>
Record fed-us-cong119-s1553 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong119 · updated 2026-11-03 by psicol fed-bills