Why did Congress introduce the RESTORE Act?
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In 2006, the Supreme Court issued a decision in eBay v. MercExchange holding that courts must apply a four-factor test to determine whether a permanent injunction is warranted in infringement cases. This led to a substantial drop in requests for injunctions, which left inventors and startups without a means to stop infringers from using their patented inventions, and a substantial increase in predatory infringement and expensive litigation, along with a lack of deterrence.
What is the RESTORE Act?
On July 30, 2024, Senators Chris Coons (D-DE) and Tom Cotton (R-AR) introduced The RESTORE (The Realizing Engineering, Science, and Technology Opportunities by Restoring Exclusive) Patent Rights Act of 2024.
The Constitution is explicit: Patent protection is intended to “promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.
The bipartisan RESTORE Act seeks to reinstate the legal right of patent owners to a rebuttable presumption that an injunction is warranted, placing the burden on the infringer to show that the injunction is not warranted.
