"We can't afford to drag our feet any longer," President Barack Obama on the America Invents Act
President Barack Obama signed into law Friday a major overhaul of the US patent system intended to speed up and make it easier for inventors to bring their products to market. The USPTO (the American patent office) currently has 1.2 million patent pending - meaning a lot of inventors have had to wait for patents to be granted for their inventions. Most will have to wait at least three years before the application for a patent can be reviewed.
The photo above is of U.S. President Barack Obama signing the America Invents Act at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology on September 16, 2011 in Alexandria, Virginia. The act reforms patent law so to give a patent to the first applicant rather than the first inventor and allows the woefully underfunded U.S. Patent and Trade Office to set and potentially keep its own fees.
America Invents Act - Good or Bad?
The America Invents Act will streamline the patent process and reduce the cost of legal battles over patents. Large corporation such as Google and Apple, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have all supported the passing of the bill. However, independent inventors like you and me have mixed feelings.
Does this new bill help us or just big corporations? In the case of two inventors inventing the same invention separately, the U.S. has always supported the first to invent rule, which supports patents being granted to the person who invented an invention first and examines those facts within a patent application upfront. Now the first to file rule will apply and the first person to file a patent application for an invention will get that patent without having to prove they were first to invent if uncontested.
However, the first to file rule doesn't mean true first inventors get chipped. It means that the burden of proof has shifted. If you invent first but don't file first, you would have to appeal to the USPTO to determine who was the first inventor and thereby who is entitled to the granting of a patent. This is called an "interference proceeding". The catch is that an interference proceeding is an expensive and time-consuming process, and we all know that the small inventor might not have the time or funding for that. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
It sounds complicated.
This is going to destroy many hopes of true inventors. These big corporations are already operating as monopolies and have more money and can file instantly. Not to mention how easy it is for them to steal ideas and pay people off. I don’t like this law at all.
This law will probably have the effect of suppressing potentially useful inventions created independently by individuals with no funds. They will be unlikely to approach the big boys for financial help with registering the patent and developing the item as it will almost surely be nicked! How does this compare with the UK Patent law and will it poison our well of ideas? To President Obama, -much genuine respect- but I think this will lead to more theft of inventions and intellectual properties by the rich and powerful. It will also discourage US inventors from applying for patents in the US. They are an inventive lot; why not ask them to invent a legal framework that protects and assists the first inventor when beset by usurpers? Perhaps the lodging of sealed and dated drawings and descriptions with a Bank could be deemed proof enough of first invention. – But then; can you trust the inventive Bankers? A tough one!
after reading the new law i feel simply lost .. don’t know what to do .. contact big companies or not ..
I agree with you TC and BC. This new law does encourage patent and Intellectual Property theft. I have been involved with 8 patents of my own. I have gone up against large conpanies who have infringed my patents… I’ve won, but excaping with only sometimes the shirt off my back. What those companies tried to do was to also get a patent including the same information I provided to them to after entering into a License Agreement. What this law does now will allow larger companies to protest my inventions and try to usurp my inventions and it would be extremely costly for me (to the point where I would have to take out huge loans) to protect my inventions.
What also is bad is there is a long time in this new law that allows for companies to dispute my patent after it has issued which will cause more patent litigation if I can retain my patent. This also allows for any large company or individual to look at any patent and claim it as their own and throw together some back information that would try to pre-date my own. This is the open window that this new law allows.
Now instead of having the USPTO do due dilligence in rooting out if it was invented before or mentioned in prior arts, the USPTO requires an extra fee to dispute anything after a patent is issued. How is that protection with and issued patent? How does that protect the inventor? How is that better and a more streamlined law? Does sluffing the responsibilities and adding 15% more to the patent process along the way solve what is lacking at the USPTO? I don’t think it does.
Most of the true individual inventors I know (even those who have been through the patent process) don’t like this new law. Most of the invtors including myself would rather wait, than to submit a patent application to the USPTO under this new law. Some of them have new ways to create what Americans want, but it’s not worth the patent and Intellectual Property theft.
In the brief description of the act, It seems to me this would actually benefit the “poor” inventor assuming they can afford the filing fee. Most individuals have the ideas but can’t put together the money to actually build their invention. Therefore, under the old rules, “poors” either have their invention stolen by trying to get public opinion, or just give up on their idea because they are afraid that if they could afford the filing fees but not the actual prototype construction they would lose their invention to corporate bullies.
There are always “bullies” out there and will try, and succeed, in steeling ideas from sleeping inventors but at least with this act it sounds to me at least if they are the first to file they will have some form of retribution.
I am an iventor with a patent pending now, and hopefully soon to be issued. Every person has ideas, there are many inventors out there who think of awesome ideas but don’t have a clue where to begin to patent their idea. So, someone else comes along later . . . and TA DAA, it’s now their idea. Patenting anything is very expensive. My first patent cost only $1250 or so, now it’s in the thousands, my last “bargain” was $4,000 and the attorney then wanted $2,400 for each dispute action. I have most of my own writing and now all my own disputing of rejections simply because I do not have money, only social security. The saying that the “Rich get richer, and the poor get poorer” is America and the patent business. I think this new law will encourage corporations and the wealthy to steal the ideas of the poor. Someday I plan to do something about this myself.
Can anyone please tell me if this law makes it more possible for a poor person who has an idea to file for a patent? Are the fees lowered?
My understanding is the new law will bring US Patent law in line with most of the rest of the world.
What are the experiences in those countries with this type of patent law?
Instead of just complaining, lets get some comparative information on which to base the discussion.
the new patent law seem clear – the first to file gets the rights to the invention, right?
I have a problem here in Europe, with a company in the US that used my idea that I presented to them. The information and emails exchanged between me and them, went on for around 6/7 months. In fact the same company developed this service in 2008 based on the outline and subsequent information sent from by behalf. The good thing is that we have obtained free European legal support to take action against this company. The service that I presented predates also a patent that was issued in the US and is one of the most valuable assets for online publicity. The problem is many of you have stated, is the money and resources needed to pursue such cases, but I am determined to pursue this as long as it takes.
I think folks are overlooking the Provisional Patent Application that’s available to all inventors – it is a low-cost way to register your patent “provisionally” — as a temporary measure for a year before you file your formal application. It lets you get on record with your invention for a low initial fee, and then it gives you a year to figure out if the idea will fly – you can make and market and sell your invention under the provisional patent, and if it turns out to be a commercial success, you will have the funds to file the formal patent application.
Also, fees for “small entities” are substantially lower than fees for large entities (I believe about half, maybe less), so don’t despair. I think this is a very good act, because making us a first to file country makes it possible for us to defend our rights without needing comprehensive documentation of every single thing we did, to establish one’s “first to invent” status.
Check out the USPTO.gov site before drawing any conclusions.