Is The U.S. Serious About International Patent Harmonization?

Article by Justin Simpson and Jeff Sweetman

With international patent harmonization, it appears to be a case of two steps forward, one step back. Justin Simpson, Australian patent attorney and inventor of the inovia foreign filing platform, and Jeff Sweetman, Australian patent attorney and Head of Professional Services at inovia, examine the international aspects of the U.S. Patent Reform Act of 2009 and how it contradicts the U.S.'s own push to reform the PCT.

The United States is currently debating the Patent Reform Act (PRA) of 2009, the third generation of a reform bill that began its journey into law in 2005. Most of the controversy of the latest version concerns the calculation of damages in infringement suits. As Australian patent attorneys, we will leave the US patent litigation issues to the U.S. attorneys and concentrate on the effect of the bill on international patent law harmonization.