Senate Passes Landmark Bill to Overhaul U.S. Patent System

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:

1. It will transition the country to a "first to file" system, instead of the current "first to invent" approach.
2. The patent reform bill will help provide adequate funding to the overwhelmed patent office by allowing it to set and keep its own fees.
3. 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.