Patent Eligibility Overhaul Plan Backed by Ex-Judges, Officials

Congress should ignore “misleading policy rhetoric or mistaken statements” by opponents of patent eligibility reform, former federal chief judges, ex-patent office directors, and others said in a letter.

Lawmakers are putting the final touches on a bill that could undo U.S. Supreme Court decisions that attorneys say have left the law poorly defined. Such rulings have made it harder for companies to win patents to protect their inventions and also to raise venture capital, some trade groups say.

The letter, from former Patent and Trademark Office directors David Kappos and Todd Dickinson, retired chief judges Paul Michel and Randall Rader ...