Think it is time to change our patent system ? So does Congress. Yesterday, the Senate approved the America Invents Act by an 89-8 vote which could result in probably the most drastic changes to the united states Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in five decades. Under the bill, which the home approved back in June, patents could be awarded to not the primary person to invent a technology, but to the primary one to really file with the USPTO, bringing US policy per protocol adopted in most other countries. It also demands a streamlined application process and would allow the USPTO to charge set fees for all apps. The revenue generated from these fees would go on to a capped reserve fund, allowing the office to retain the lion’s share of the cash, instead of funneling much of it to Congress, as had become the norm.
Supporters say this additional revenue will give the USPTO more power to chip away at its backlog of a few 700,000 patent applications, while a brand new third-party challenge system may help eliminate patents that should’ve never received approval within the first place. Opponents, meanwhile, criticized the bill for not eliminating fee diversion altogether (an amendment that would’ve placed more severe restrictions was ultimately killed, for fear that it’s going to jeopardize the bill’s passage), with Washington Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell questioning the legislation’s impact on small businesses, calling it “a gigantic corporation patent giveaway that tramples at the rights of small inventors.” But Senator Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat who sponsored the bill, argued that yesterday’s approval marks a tremendous and historic inflection point in US patent policy:
The creativity that drives our economic engine has made America the worldwide leader in invention and innovation. The America Invents Act will ensure inventors large and small maintain the competitive edge that has put America on the pinnacle of world innovation. Here is historic legislation. It’s good policy.
The America Invents Act will now make its option to President Obama’s desk, where it’s expected to receive his signature. For more background at the legislation, have a look at the links below.
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