

Massive patent reform bill passes House committee - chaostheory
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070718-massive-patent-reform-bill-passes-house-committee.html

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garbowza
This reform bill quite excellent and much needed, as it focuses on limiting
patent litigation and outrageous infringement lawsuits. Shifting from "first
to invent" to "first to file" actually helps prevent costly lawsuits. Under
the current "first to invent," someone who files a patent can be invalidated
by someone who claims they invented the idea first, but didn't take any
action, which often results in expensive and time consuming litigation.
Hopefully this bill makes it through the full vote...

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ph0rque
After the startup school in April, I had the opportunity to chat with one of
the lawyers who had earlier presented. I asked him about the possibility of a
world-wide patent system, where an inventor would file once and enjoy
protection the world over. He didn't think that would happen anytime soon,
mainly because of the "first to invent" system that US uses vs. the "first to
file" that most other countries use.

I guess that dream is one step closer to reality if the law passes. :~)

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garbowza
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) actually does perform this
function and does include the U.S. It's PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty)
applications are valid for all member states, so it's essentially like
submitting a patent application for each member state. However, WIPO
applications are typically obtained in addition to separate U.S. and
International patents rather than instead of, so it doesn't really serve the
intended purpose.

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thingsilearned
not sure if I like "first to file." It sounds too easy to just write up
someone else's idea.

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chaostheory
ok I guess either the article has recently been edited... I like the prior art
and total damages cap, but does this sound right, the US will "shift from a
"first to invent" system to the "first to file" system used in other
countries"?

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rms
Wow, sounds like the US Congress did something reasonable and useful. This is
rare from one of the worst Congresses ever...

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sabat
This sounds terrible:

 _The other bedrock changes to the US patent system envisioned in the original
bill remain, including a shift from a "first to invent" system to the "first
to file" system used in other countries._

So I do the required prior-art search, pretend not to find anything, and
patent an idea that's been out there forever. No one can claim prior art.

Great going, guys.

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garbowza
No, even under "first to file" you cannot patent something where publicly
accessible prior art exists. You can never patent something if it already
exists in the public. The difference in first to file is that you can't pull
up internal, private (i.e. NOT public) documents after the fact and say "look,
here's proof I did it first" even though nobody could access that document.

