Patent Law Reform: What You Need to Know
October 9, 2011
Leahy-Smith America Invents Act
On September 16, 2011, President Obama signed the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act and, with his signature, ushered in the first major change to the U.S. Patent System since 1952. The House passed the bill 304-117 earlier this year and the Senate voted 89-9 to pass it.
Why Patent Reform?
Congress initially began considering patent reform back during the first term of President George W. Bush when the goal was to fix what was seen as a broken patent litigation system. It was the dawn of business method patents which spurned a new wave of litigation by non-practicing entities commonly termed “patent trolls” attempting to enforce a wide range of broadly defined and commonly used business systems and software applications. In trying to address the new challenges, the House back in 2005, passed a version of patent reform that attempted to target poor quality patents that were encouraging a plethora of frivolous patent infringement lawsuits. The bill, however, never cleared the Senate and as a result of constant lobbying between powerful interests (e.g. Drug companies, tech giants, etc…), the substance of the bill slowly deteriorated for the next several years.