October 20, 2009
Race to the Patent Office?
The Intellectual Property Owners Association reports the latest news on patent reform efforts in Congress, which include the possibility of amending patent laws to give application priority based on which inventor first files a patent application, rather than the inventor who first invents the invention. The United States remains the only country who awards priority based on first-to-invent, rather than first-to-file. Most critics of the proposed change point out, given the expense and other barriers to getting early patent applications on file, the change would primarily benefit large companies and hurt small companies and independent inventors.