Overview
On Tuesday, March 8, 2011, the United States Senate passed the
America Invents Act by a resounding vote of 95 to 5. The House is
widely expected to pass a similar version of the Act in the coming
weeks, and President Obama has already indicated his endorsement.
The America Invents Act is intended to reduce backlog at the U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office, and represents the first substantive
reform to U.S. patent law since 1952. Though the Act will likely
undergo minor changes in the coming weeks, all indications are that
it will include the following substantive reforms.
First-to-File
For the first time since its genesis in 1790, U.S. patent law
will award patents to the first person to file for a patent rather
than to the first person to arrive at an invention. All other major
patent offices in the world already award patents on a
first-to-file basis. Though equitable, the first-to-invent system
leads to disputes that the Patent Office has been forced
