Letter to Senate Judiciary in Support of the “Patent Eligibility Restoration Act” (PERA)

By SBE Council at 13 July, 2026, 7:28 am

The Honorable Chuck Grassley

Chairman

Senate Judiciary Committee

135 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington, D.C. 20510

The Honorable Dick Durbin

Ranking Member

Senate Judiciary Committee

711 Hart Senate Building

Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Chairman Grassley, Ranking Member Durbin, and Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee:

The Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (SBE Council) writes to offer our strong support for the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act (PERA) ahead of the Committee's July 14 hearing. SBE Council is an organization committed to protecting entrepreneurship and small business growth through advocacy, research, and education. PERA would help small firms across the country by restoring clarity to patent eligibility rules and making it easier for inventors to protect their innovations, raise capital, and build successful businesses.

Small businesses are a cornerstone of the U.S. economy and fuel America's global competitiveness. They employ nearly half of Americans, contribute over 40% of the U.S. GDP, and are responsible for developing critical technologies, new innovations, and products.

Inventors and entrepreneurs depend on clear, ironclad intellectual property protections to bring their ideas to the marketplace. Patents are a key part of small business growth. In fact, MIT researchers have found that startups with a patent are 87 times more likely to grow than ones without a patent.

Yet over the past two decades, several Supreme Court rulings have made it harder to obtain patent protection for discoveries in fields like medical diagnostics, software, and artificial intelligence. These decisions expanded several judicial exceptions - "abstract ideas," "laws of nature," and "natural phenomena" - in U.S. patent law, creating significant uncertainty.

That uncertainty depresses investment. Roughly three-fourths of investors consider patent eligibility an important factor when deciding whether to invest in a company developing new technology; without that eligibility, investors are far less likely to allocate funds to key technologies.

Consider medical diagnostics. After the Supreme Court's Mayo ruling in 2012 limited certain diagnostic techniques' patent eligibility, investment in medical diagnostics dropped by $9.3 billion, relative to previous projections.

PERA would eliminate the Supreme Court's exceptions and restore patent eligibility for genuine breakthroughs, without lowering patent standards. Instead of devoting valuable time and resources to navigating legal uncertainty, entrepreneurs could devote their resources to commercializing discoveries, growing their businesses, and creating new jobs.

At a time when China leads in 66 of 74 critical technologies, the United States cannot afford to lose its innovative edge. We ought to be encouraging inventors and entrepreneurs to develop these breakthrough technologies, not discouraging them by making inventions ineligible for patent protection.

We respectfully urge you to support this legislation and the millions of small businesses and startups that are counting on it.

Sincerely,

Karen Kerrigan
President & CEO