The Great Patent Race

United States Patent and Trademark Office Logo - RF CafeYou might have read about the recent U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) law that changes policy from a 'first to invent' to a 'first to file' system. It was meant to reduce the amount of work required by patent examiners and to reduce litigation by eliminating the heretofore potentially subjective nature of determining who was the 'real' inventor of an idea. Previously, if a person could prove via formal dated notes, witnesses, etc., that he was the first to manifest an idea in the form of a working model, there was a good chance that an existing patent could be reassigned. Now, it is almost purely a matter of who gets the earliest timestamp for having been received at the USPTO. This short piece in Inc magazine discusses the new patent filing issue.

Posted  June 2013