Coalition Warns Senate Patent Bill Threatens AI Innovation and Small Businesses

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 8, 2025

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A coalition of public interest organizations representing software developers, startups, and small businesses sent a letter today to the leadership of the Senate Judiciary Committee expressing strong opposition to the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act (S. 1546), or PERA, warning it would harm small businesses and stifle innovation in fields like artificial intelligence.

The letter, sent to Chairman Chuck Grassley and Ranking Member Dick Durbin, argues that the legislation, combined with recent changes that have restricted access to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), creates a “perfect storm” against American innovation, particularly for small businesses and independent creators in key fields like AI.

The coalition warns that by opening the door to patents on abstract ideas, PERA would guarantee corporate monopolies on the very building blocks of computing. This radical change poses an imminent threat to AI innovators, who rely on the programming fundamentals that current patent eligibility law protects. Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Staff Attorney Betelhem Gedlu explained, “PERA’s changes are a recipe for stagnation that would block the collaborative engine of American ingenuity.”

The groups state that eliminating patent eligibility standards now would be “catastrophic,” given the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) ongoing evisceration of post-grant safeguards at the PTAB. Jill Crosby of Engine emphasized, “Startups rely on a balanced patent system. With the PTAB safety valve shut off, gutting patent eligibility protections would leave small businesses with no affordable, efficient avenue to defend their innovation.”

The letter further warns that PERA would overturn long-standing legal precedents, inviting a wave of litigation on abstract ideas and basic business methods. Wayne Brough from the R Street Institute, added, “Intellectual property policy should promote competition, not hinder it. PERA does the opposite, promoting patent thickets that create legal minefields which small businesses and real innovators simply cannot afford to navigate.”

The coalition’s letter concludes by urging the Committee to oppose PERA and instead focus on restoring the PTAB as the accessible, efficient check on patent quality that Congress intended.

The letter was signed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Engine Advocacy, Public Interest Patent Law Institute, Public Knowledge, and the R Street Institute.