The following is excerpted from an article by Michael M. Rosen appearing in the September 12, 2011 issue of The American (The Journal of the American Enterprise Institute):
On September 8, Congress at long last passed the “America Invents Act,” the first overhaul of our patent system in decades. Yet not everyone has cheered the new law, or how it came about.
The U.S. patent regime has always been a careful balancing act between encouraging innovation, enforcing the rights of inventors, and ensuring the public interest. Yet in two recent reports—one on National Public Radio’s “This American Life” and one in the New York Times—critics have argued that that equipoise is in grave danger.
Yet, like all complex issues presented by the mass media—even (especially?) by outlets as sophisticated as NPR and the Times—the ins and outs and what-have-yous of our patent system are far more nuanced, and the players far more difficult to cabin into bad guy and good guy roles, than NPR’s Ira Glass and company would have you believe.
Read here the analysis by Mr. Rosen of these two reports.
One of the few helpful measures that I see contained in this legislation is a provision requiring a showing of "competitive injury" in order to obtain standing in a false marking suit. This should prove effective in reducing (if not eliminating) the new scourge of false marking patent trolls. And, doubtless, those at the USPTO are looking forward to a probable increase in fees. But, from what I can tell, the rest of this bill is mostly a wash.
http://www.generalpatent.com/blog/
Posted by: patent litigation | September 19, 2011 at 12:08 PM
The decisions have made it harder for patent holders to enforce voluntary infringement, which results in acute damages.
Posted by: Patent filing agent | October 12, 2011 at 04:20 AM