Legislation to overhaul the U.S. patent system for the first time in nearly 60 years made it way through the House of Representatives on Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Despite disagreements about a provision that could help large banks challenge some patents, House lawmakers passed the America Invents Act on a 304-117 vote.

More than two-thirds of lawmakers from each party supported the bill, which would change how the United States grants patents and award them to the party which is “first to file” an invention rather than the “first to invent” it.

Other nations adopted first to file patent systems years ago. The proposed legislation is expected to simplify the patent process for companies that file applications in multiple countries.

“This bill is designed to help all inventors,” said Rep. Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican who chairs the House Judiciary Committee and helped write the legislation. The bill would help small investors and companies sidestep “costly legal challenges” to their patents, he said.

The legislation, which includes a provision that would make it easier for banks to get re-examination of patents on financial business processes such as check-scanning, would “benefit large multinationals at the expense of independent inventors and small businesses,” according to Rep. John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat who opposed the bill.

The House and Senate, which passed similar legislation in March, are now expected to negotiate a final bill that would be sent to President Barack Obama to sign into law.