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US patent reform brings relief to all |
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Written by Felix Da Silva (fdasilva@bitnip.com)
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Thursday, 20 September 2007 |
 The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) aims to bring their intellectual property laws in line with
international standards by combining the fast-track patent examination of the USPTO and the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office (UK IPO) to allow applicants
in both countries to obtain corresponding patents faster.
According to the USPTO's press release, they are now accepting applications for participation in a pilot Patent
Prosecution Highway project established between the two offices.
Secretary of Commerce for
Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO Jon Dudas said,
Patent offices worldwide must increase the depth and effectiveness of their
cooperation. Our collective goal is to reduce duplication of work, speed up
processing, and improve quality. This pilot project
with the UK IPO builds on our work with the Japan Patent Office, and contributes
to a more rational international patent system. This is good news to a lot of people as the USPTO is one of the few countries that still uses a first-to-invent system which awards legal rights to whoever is first to think up a specific product or
service which leads to a lot of problems.
In the UK and in most other countries, the law is based on a
first-to-file arrangement which favours the party that registers the invention
first.
The main advantage of first-to-file is that it is much clearer and simpler as to who should be granted the legal rights towards an invention. Bringing the US system in line with Europe will ease UK companies from
having to store detailed files tracking all their work in case there is a first-to-invent claim
from the US.
According to Google, this program also benefits companies inside the US. A statement from Google said,
Without a modernised patent system, US companies are at a competitive
disadvantage, spending resources on unnecessary litigation and unwarranted
licensing instead of on innovation.
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