Congress·In Committee·H.R. 5811

Rep. Massie Proposes Major Overhaul to Restore 'First-to-Invent' Patent Rights

Restoring America’s Leadership in Innovation Act of 2025

5 months ago·View on Congress.gov

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Key Points

The bill switches the U.S. patent system back to a "first-to-invent" model, where the person who actually came up with an idea first gets the patent — not just whoever files the paperwork fastest. This reverses a major change made by the 2011 America Invents Act.
From policy text
“a person shall be entitled to a patent where the inventor is first to conceive of the invention and diligently reduces the invention to practice.”
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It eliminates the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) and the inter partes review and post-grant review processes that companies currently use to challenge existing patents. Instead, patents could only be invalidated through regular court proceedings.
From policy text
“inter partes review and post-grant review proceedings introduced by the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act have harmed the progress of science and the useful arts by subjecting inventors to serial challenges to patents”
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Patents would be legally defined as private property rights, similar to owning physical property. Once granted, a patent could only be revoked by a court ruling, unless the patent owner agrees to another process.
From policy text
“A patent right is a private property right secured to an inventor upon issuance of the patent that shall only be revoked by a court ruling in a judicial proceeding, unless the patent owner consents to an administrative or other procedure.”
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The bill expands what can be patented to include more software inventions and life science discoveries, overriding several Supreme Court rulings that had narrowed patent eligibility in those fields.
From policy text
“this amendment effectively abrogates Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International, 573 U.S. 208 (2014), Bilski v. Kappos, 561 U.S. 593 (2010), Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, 569 U.S. 576 (2013), Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, 566 U.S. 66 (2012)”
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Patent applications would no longer be automatically published after 18 months. Instead, applications would stay secret until a patent is officially granted, which the bill says will help prevent foreign competitors from stealing American innovations.
From policy text
“automatic publication of patent applications encourages early disclosure of claimed inventions and subjects innovative inventions and discoveries reduced to practice in the United States to theft or appropriation by foreign competitors.”
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All fees collected by the Patent and Trademark Office would stay with the agency in a new dedicated fund, ending the practice of Congress redirecting that money to other uses. This is meant to speed up patent processing.

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Impact Analysis

Personal Impact

Who is affectedScoreImpactCertaintyScopeDurationSentiment

Scores: 1 = low, 5 = highSentiment: -5 to +5 (net benefit)

Milestones

2 milestones2 actions

Oct 24, 2025House

Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

Oct 24, 2025

Introduced in House

What Happens Next

Projected impacts based on AI analysis

First day of the fiscal year after enactment

New USPTO Innovation Promotion Fund takes effect

Patent fees would stop being diverted to other government uses and would stay at the Patent Office, potentially speeding up patent reviews and reducing the current backlog.