Nature:
The most comprehensive overhaul of US patent law is up for
review in the House after similar legislation passed the Senate
on 8 March. The bill proposes to change the US patent system
from a first-to-invent arrangement to a first-to-file
arrangement. Currently, if two inventors file similar patent
applications at around the same time, they go into an expensive
process called "interference," during which a specialized
division of the US Patent Office tries to discover who created
the invention first. The average cost of the process to
inventors is between $400 000 and $500 000.
Advocates of the new legislation say that the change will make
it easier for scientists to obtain patents without getting
bogged down in litigation; opponents are concerned that the
change may lead to a sudden increase in filings, which the
agency won't be able to handle without a significant increase
in staff. One provision of the law that has not been heavily
disputed would allow outsiders to challenge new patents in a
post-grant review process without having to resort to costly
litigation.
