On September 8, 2011, a late congress passed legislation dubbed “The America Invents Act” in an overwhelming 89-9 vote. President Obama is expected to sign it into law within the next week. In this CNNMoney report by David Goldman, the bill will mandate three things:
- It will transition the country to a "first to file" system, instead of the current "first to invent" approach.
- The patent reform bill will help provide adequate funding to the overwhelmed patent office by allowing it to set and keep its own fees.
- The bill will create a post-grant review process intended to clear up legal battles before they start.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office are hopeful that the reforms will improve the patent-granting process, prevent challenges to pending patents, create new jobs within the patent office, and help with much-needed IT resources.
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