Patent Reform Bill Approved by House Committee 95
Alex Forster pointed us to this PC World story that opens, "The House Committee on the Judiciary approved far-reaching legislation to reform the nation's patent system Wednesday.
The Patent Reform Act of 2007 largely reflects the IT sector's lobbying effort to curtail lengthy, expensive patent infringement lawsuits, but Wednesday's committee deliberations centered on finding compromises acceptable to opponents — namely the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, manufacturers, and large research universities — so that the bill could win approval.
Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., described the current patent system as inefficient, bogged down by inappropriate litigation rules, unreliably funded, and resulting in patents of "questionable quality." The bill would make it harder to secure a patent and easier for rivals to challenge one, and it would change how courts determine an infringed patent's value."
Senate Committee Follows Suit (Score:3, Informative)
Re:now first-to-invent? (Score:4, Informative)
No, because to get a patent you have to prove the technique hasn't been previously published by someone else. This will just mean that if two people who can each prove that element file for the same patent, they won't have to argue about who kept it secret for longer.
Re:This was my "Patent" wake-up call.. (Score:5, Informative)
And if you need a further wake-up, read how patent litigation really works here [law.com].
Re:now first-to-invent? (Score:2, Informative)
The "first-to-file" system gets rid of these affidavit's and makes the filing, or priority, date the day of invention. If prior art was filed, published (meaning it was available to the public, but no one actually had to have seen it), etc, before the day of filing, it qualifies as prior art.