The Senate stripped out limits on patent lawsuit damages that some large tech companies had supported.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Information Technology Industry Council, an IT trade group, were among the groups supporting the legislation.

Opponents of the legislation argued the legislation will hurt small inventors in favor of large corporations. Opponents offered several amendments in an attempt to water down the bill, but the amendments failed.

The House bill retroactively allows new review of financial business method patents, creating an illegal grab of property held by small patent holders, argued Representative John Conyers Jr., a Michigan Democrat. "The bill essentially will give large banks a special new bailout at the expense of small inventors and the American taxpayer, and even worse, would do so on a retroactive basis," he said on the House floor.

Conyers also questioned the bill's first-to-file provision, saying it hurts small inventors who may not have the money to file patents quickly. "As a result, the bill would permit the Patent and Trademark Office to award a patent to the first person who can win a race to the patent office regardless of who is the actual inventor," he said. "This is patently unfair to inventors."