Patent Reform Moves Forward

Yesterday the Senate overwhelmingly approved patent reform bill S.23, the American Invents Act. Patent reform now moves to the Judiciary Committee in the House of Representatives. The Committee, led by Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), will meet on March 10 to begin drafting similar legislation.

Included among the major features of S. 23 are: changing from a first-to-invent system to a first-inventor to file system; eliminating Congressional diversion of USPTO fees, amending post-grant and inter partes reexamination reviews, adding restrictions on who can file false patent marking lawsuits, eliminating litigation-related provisions on damage calculations and venue selection, and giving priority to patent applications that are critical to U.S. economic development.

President Barack Obama praised the passage of S. 23, saying, "I'm pleased that, on a bipartisan basis, the Senate has passed the most significant patent reform in over half a century. This long-overdue reform is vital to our ongoing efforts to modernize American's patent laws and reduce the backlog of 700,000 patent applications." The United States Patent and Trademark Office and various other intellectual property groups also strongly endorse the bill.