- Posted September 26, 2011
- Tweet This | Share on Facebook
Obama signs patent overhaul law
The Daily Record Newswire
President Barack Obama signed the America Invents Act into law last week, a measure he said will benefit businesses by allowing inventions to get to market sooner and cut down on red tape and patent-related litigation.
The most significant overhaul to the patent system since 1952, the measure creates a "first to file" patent issuing system, granting patent rights for an innovation to the first party to apply for them instead of to the first inventor.
It also authorizes the Patent and Trademark Office to offer some companies a fast-track 12-month process instead of the normal three-year period.
The measure will reduce the existing backlog of nearly 700,000 patent applications and will significantly reduce wait times, Obama said in during a signing ceremony in Alexandria, Va.
The measure is also designed to reduce costly litigation.
The PTO will have broader authority to hear administrative challenges regarding patent validity, at costs significantly less expensive than going to court.
Published: Mon, Sep 26, 2011
headlines Jackson County
- BPW hosts ‘Celebrating Freedom’ luncheon
- Videos aim to explain the court system
- Burgee recognized as a ‘Michigan Go To Lawyer’ for business transactions
- Employees behaving badly? Lawyer offers tips on handling workplace unrest
- Nessel urges awareness of human trafficking signs, shares resources after latest trafficking charges
headlines National
- This Los Angeles lawyer found her calling as a death doula
- ACLU and BigLaw firm use ‘Orange is the New Black’ in hashtag effort to promote NY jail reform
- Artificial intelligence tools for brief writing and analysis are a small firm litigator’s new best friend
- Baker McKenzie partner drops suit seeking IRS documents on partnership scrutiny
- Family members sue networks after learning of loved ones’ deaths by seeing bodies on TV
- Ex-BigLaw attorney once ‘consumed with remorse’ over $10M client theft sentenced in new scheme