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The Senate on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved landmark legislation to overhaul the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, a reform effort more than half a decade in the making that aims to improve the quality of patents and curb frivolous litigation.
The America Invents Act, originally titled the Patent Reform Act, cleared the upper chamber by a vote of 95 to five, a resounding legislative victory for the bill's author, Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who has backed efforts to reform the patent system in each of the previous three Congresses.
"Reforming the nation's antiquated patent system will promote American innovation, create American jobs. It will grow our economy," Leahy said today on the Senate floor.
Chuck Grassley (Iowa), the Ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) were original co-sponsors of the bill.
The debate over patent reform has been closely watched by members of the tech sector, which have long pressed for measures to shield themselves from patent litigation that they argue is often a burdensome distraction. At the same time, several groups representing inventors and small businesses have long campaigned against any provision that would weaken the legal mechanisms available to their members to assert their patents.
Excluded from the bill was a controversial amendment, backed by many tech companies, that would have eased the process for initiating an in-house administrative review process at the Patent Office for challenges to patents that have been granted, a measure billed as a less costly alternative to private litigation.
The Senate bill would transition the Patent Office to a so-called first-to-file system, bringing the U.S. system in line with the patent regimes of much of the rest of the world. The shift would confer patent rights on the first inventor or company to file an application, rather than the current first-to-invent system
Other, less controversial provisions of the bill include language to end fee diversion, a measure that would ensure that the filing fees patent applicants pay fund the Patent Office. Over the years, patent fees have been diverted to fund other government programs, a condition that has left the office strapped for resources and seen its backlog swell to more than 700,000 applications.
I REALLY hope this helps the Patent granting system in the US. Honestly, it's a mess.
