Some opponents are vehemently against any patent reform despite the fact the U.S. has not updated its patent laws for about 60 years.
"I have been trying to preserve a patent system accessible, fair and enforceable for all since 1992," said Ronald J. Riley who leads a handful of anti-reform groups including the Professional Inventors Alliance.
"It has been clear for a long time that Obama is in the pockets of large transnational business interests whose profits are built on systematic and intentional theft of independent and small business inventions," said Riley
Some opponents of the bill are expected to continue work to strike a shift in the draft legislation from a first-to-file to a first-to-invent system.
S. 23 would move the U.S. patent system from a "first-to-invent" system to a "first-to-file" system used by other nations, meaning that the first to file a patent application on an invention would be awarded the patent, regardless of who first came with the system. The bill is opposed by many in technology, particular advocates of small businesses and entrepreneurs, who critics say would be put at a disadvantage under the first-to-file system.
"Every large entity got something they wanted in the bill, and small entities were completely ignored," said Steve Perlman, a serial entrepreneur who waited eight years to get a patent fundamental to his latest startup, the online gaming service OnLive.
Perlman praised the provision, added just last week, to end patent fee diversion as a way to help clean up a backlog of nearly 800,000 applications, but otherwise took issue with the bill.
The first-inventor-to-file provision will "crush small inventor and startups," said Perlman, who has 100 patents. "We're obliterating the U.S. startup economy," he said.
"No surprise that this bill made it through without a single inventor being allowed to testify to the Senate," he added.
Advocates of the bill say it will streamline a U.S. patent system that many believe is fundamentally broken.
Last week, S. 23 survived a vote on an amendment that would have removed the change to a first-to-file system, something advocates of the bill say would have fundamentally killed the reform. The Senate voted to table that amendment, sponsored by Diane Feinstein (D., Calif.), by a vote of 87-13.
"After six years of debate and discussion, the Senate has finally acted to make the first meaningful, comprehensive reforms to the nation's patent system in nearly 60 years," said Patrick Leahy (D., Vt.), sponsor of S. 23, in a statement circulated Tuesday. Leahy said the legislation would promote American innovation, create American jobs and grow America’s economy without costing taxpayers money.
"Having coordinated with the leaders in the House through this process, I hope that the House will look favorably on our work and adopt this measure so that it can be sent it to the President without delay and its improvements can take effect in order to encourage American innovation and promote American invention," Leahy said.
What do you think? Will the patent reform bill be a good thing for independent inventors or will it, as some say, allow corporations to steal ideas without paying the independent inventor?
"I have been trying to preserve a patent system accessible, fair and enforceable for all since 1992," said Ronald J. Riley who leads a handful of anti-reform groups including the Professional Inventors Alliance.
"It has been clear for a long time that Obama is in the pockets of large transnational business interests whose profits are built on systematic and intentional theft of independent and small business inventions," said Riley
Some opponents of the bill are expected to continue work to strike a shift in the draft legislation from a first-to-file to a first-to-invent system.
S. 23 would move the U.S. patent system from a "first-to-invent" system to a "first-to-file" system used by other nations, meaning that the first to file a patent application on an invention would be awarded the patent, regardless of who first came with the system. The bill is opposed by many in technology, particular advocates of small businesses and entrepreneurs, who critics say would be put at a disadvantage under the first-to-file system.
"Every large entity got something they wanted in the bill, and small entities were completely ignored," said Steve Perlman, a serial entrepreneur who waited eight years to get a patent fundamental to his latest startup, the online gaming service OnLive.
Perlman praised the provision, added just last week, to end patent fee diversion as a way to help clean up a backlog of nearly 800,000 applications, but otherwise took issue with the bill.
The first-inventor-to-file provision will "crush small inventor and startups," said Perlman, who has 100 patents. "We're obliterating the U.S. startup economy," he said.
"No surprise that this bill made it through without a single inventor being allowed to testify to the Senate," he added.
Advocates of the bill say it will streamline a U.S. patent system that many believe is fundamentally broken.
Last week, S. 23 survived a vote on an amendment that would have removed the change to a first-to-file system, something advocates of the bill say would have fundamentally killed the reform. The Senate voted to table that amendment, sponsored by Diane Feinstein (D., Calif.), by a vote of 87-13.
"After six years of debate and discussion, the Senate has finally acted to make the first meaningful, comprehensive reforms to the nation's patent system in nearly 60 years," said Patrick Leahy (D., Vt.), sponsor of S. 23, in a statement circulated Tuesday. Leahy said the legislation would promote American innovation, create American jobs and grow America’s economy without costing taxpayers money.
"Having coordinated with the leaders in the House through this process, I hope that the House will look favorably on our work and adopt this measure so that it can be sent it to the President without delay and its improvements can take effect in order to encourage American innovation and promote American invention," Leahy said.
What do you think? Will the patent reform bill be a good thing for independent inventors or will it, as some say, allow corporations to steal ideas without paying the independent inventor?
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