Presumption of validity; defenses

(a) Validity of a patent in adjudicatory proceedings Section 282(a) of title 35, United States Code, is amended to read as follows: (a) In general (1) Presumption of validity for a patent In any judicial or administrative proceeding conducted in any court or Federal agency (as defined in section 201) or of any State, a patent issued under this title shall be presumed valid. (2) Presumption of validity for claims of a patent In any proceeding described under paragraph (1)— (A) each claim of a patent (whether in independent, dependent, or multiple dependent form) shall be presumed valid independently of the validity of other claims; and (B) dependent or multiple dependent claims shall be presumed valid even though dependent upon an invalid claim. (3) Burden of establishing invalidity In any proceeding described under paragraph (1) in which the validity of a patent is at issue, the burden of establishing invalidity of a patent or any claim thereof rests on the party asserting the invalidity by clear and convincing evidence.. (b) Tolling patent term during judicial challenge Section 282 of title 35, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: (d) Tolling of patent term during validity challenge In an action involving a patent where the validity of the patent has been challenged, the patent term shall be tolled from the time the validity of the patent is challenged to the time of resolution of the validity issue by the court. The patent term shall resume once the validity challenge is resolved. The court may award damages to the patent owner in a case in which another party brought a validity claim against the patent in bad faith..