May Highlights: PERA and PREVAIL Return to the Congressional Docket
The Patent Eligibility Restoration Act (PERA) and the Promoting and Respecting Economically Vital American Innovation Leadership (PREVAIL) Act remain two of the most vital patent policy reforms under consideration today. Both bills would make it easier for inventors to obtain and defend patent rights on innovative discoveries — PERA by clarifying patent eligibility for cutting-edge technologies, PREVAIL by preventing infringers from weaponizing PTAB proceedings against smaller inventors.
In late April, these critical bills were reintroduced in Congress with bipartisan support:
- PERA is led in the Senate by Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Chris Coons (D-DE), and in the House by Reps. Kevin Kiley (R-CA) and Scott Peters (D-CA).
- PREVAIL is led in the Senate by Sens. Chris Coons (D-DE), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Mazie Hirono (D-HI), and in the House by Reps. Nathaniel Moran (R-TX) and Deborah Ross (D-NC).
C4IP strongly supports the passage of both PERA and PREVAIL and has released a new video series explaining their importance that is entitled, “Powering Progress: Key IP Bills Shaping America’s Future”:
- C4IP’s newly released video series highlights the importance of PERA and PREVAIL.
Watch Now: “Powering Progress: The Patent Eligibility Restoration Act (PERA)“
Watch Now: “Powering Progress: The Promoting and Respecting Economically Vital American Innovation Leadership (PREVAIL) Act”
- C4IP issued statements applauding the reintroduction of both PERA and PREVAIL and underscoring the bills’ importance.
- C4IP Executive Director Frank Cullen sent a letter to Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Chris Coons (D-DE) thanking them for reintroducing PERA and PREVAIL and reiterating the value of these bipartisan bills for American innovators.
- C4IP’s support for PERA and PREVAIL was mentioned in articles in Law360 and Center Square on the reintroduction of the bills.
Additional Coalition Updates
- On May 30, C4IP Board Member Judge Paul Michel (ret.) published an opinion essay in Law360 calling on Congress to pass the RESTORE Patent Rights Act. The piece argues that reinstating injunctions as the default remedy for patent infringement is essential to protect startups, attract investment, and preserve U.S. technological leadership in the face of growing foreign competition.
- On May 28, C4IP released its 2025 Congressional Innovation Scorecard, which found that while the number of pro-IP senators has increased since 2024, most of Congress remains underattentive to important innovation issues, with over half of lawmakers receiving a grade of “C” or lower.
- C4IP issued an accompanying statement summarizing the Scorecard’s findings and urging lawmakers to prioritize policies that support American innovation.
- IPWatchdog and Erie News Now published articles centered on the Scorecard’s findings. The latter story focused on Sen. John Fetterman’s grade.
- Chris Coons highlighted his “A+” grade from the Scorecard in a post on X, stating that he “will always fight for bipartisan solutions to protect intellectual property rights so that America’s innovators can keep pushing us into the future.”
- Nathaniel Moran highlighted his “A+” grade from the Scorecard in a post on X, noting that “Innovation is key to American strength. We must protect the ideas, inventions, and creators that drive our economy forward.”
- Hank Johnson issued a press release spotlighting his “A” grade from the Scorecard and reaffirming his commitment “to focus on intellectual property policies that foster the innovation and creativity we need to drive human progress.”
Read It Now: “Congressional Innovation Scorecard, Second Edition“
- On May 27, former Commerce Secretary Gary Locke published an opinion essay in Newsweek calling out China’s practice of unilaterally lowering standard-essential patent licensing rates for its domestic companies, which harms innovation and deprives Western firms of fair revenue.
“It’s time to recommit to FRAND principles — and reaffirm that every company, regardless of its nationality, must pay its fair share in licensing fees for the technologies we all rely on.”
- On May 12, former Vermont Governor Howard Dean published an opinion essay in U.S. News & World Report spotlighting how international efforts to restrict patent protections at the World Trade Organization and World Health Organization would harm innovation and cripple America’s ability to combat diseases like bird flu.
“IP protections aren’t barriers to innovation; they are foundations for it. These protections create the stable ground that allows scientists and companies to make the massive, no-returns-guaranteed investments required to develop new treatments and diagnostics.”
- On May 12, C4IP’s recent event with the Kentucky Intellectual Property Alliance, “Blueprints for Innovation,” was featured in an article by Morehead State Public Radio, which summarized the remarks given by C4IP Co-Chair Andrei Iancu and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY).
- On May 9, C4IP Executive Director Frank Cullen sent a letter to Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios, who was recently charged by President Trump with writing a report on how to foster scientific progress and innovation, emphasizing the importance of strong IP rights to America’s economic and technological future.
- On May 3, C4IP Co-Chair David Kappos published an opinion essay in IAM explaining how two international policy proposals — TRIPS waiver expansion at the World Trade Organization and a pandemic preparedness treaty being considered by the World Health Organization — would undermine inventors’ patent rights and allow foreign countries to siphon off U.S. wealth.
- On May 1, C4IP Executive Director Frank Cullen was interviewed by NBC News 10 in Cranston, Rhode Island, about the danger posed by counterfeit online pharmacies.