America Invents Act

In the USA, The Patent Reform Act is legislation that was proposed in 2007. It was rejected in the Senate in 2008 but discussions began again in 2009 and continued in 2010.

This proposal does not deliver the real reform we need - it would not end or even reduce the granting of software patents by the USPTO. We need to change what can be patented - what areas are "patentable subject matter", to have software removed. This reform might reduce the problem of patent trolls, but won't have any effect on the harm to standards or on MPEG video formats.

It is generally proposed to change the USA's granting system from first-to-invent to first-to-file, like the rest of the world.

Related pages on ESP Wiki

• 2008 State of Software Patents, Section III discusses Congress and The Patent Reform Act
• Raising examination standards
• Legislation in the USA
• Calculating infringement damages in the USA - the reform aims to change damages
• First-to-file or first-to-invent

External links

• ESP: The Patent Reform Act
• Patent Reform Act of 2010: An Overview
• March 2009: Slashdot, Lawmakers Take Another Shot At Patent Reform
• Patently-o article about The Patent Reform Act 2009
• April 2007: New patent reform bill would streamline appeal process, Ars Technica
• Wikipedia: Patent Reform Act of 2007
• http://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2007/01/why_microsoft_w.html
• Patent Reform Dec 14, 2005
• 2005 interview with Mark Webbink
• A campaign generally supporting the proposed reforms: http://www.patentfairness.org/
• Not sure this is relevant: Conyers: Patent Talks Appear 'Stalled', May 5^th 2010
• IP Experts Question Patent Reform Provisions, June 15^th 2010

Senate committee hearings

• http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/hearing.cfm?id=3701 (March 10th 2009)
• http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/hearing.cfm?id=2803 (June 6th 2007)