Newsroom
News Events Publications
-
Passage of HR1249
-
-
June 24, 2011
Nearly a decade in the making, reform may be coming in 2011 to the U.S. Patent Act. In March, the U.S. Senate passed the "America Invents Act," S.23, by a margin of 95 to 5. Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the similarly named "America Invents Act," H.R. 1249, by a margin of 304 to 117.
Both House and Senate bills make significant changes to existing patent law. For example, both move the United States from a first-to-invent to a first-to-file standard, aligning U.S. patent law with that of the remainder of the world. In addition, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) would be responsible for administering a new post-grant challenge procedure for patents.
While the Senate bill was used as the starting point for the House bill, the House bill adds a number of provisions not found in the Senate bill. In addition, the Senate and the House bills diverge on the level of Congressional oversight required as to USPTO's budget. Consequently, the Senate and House will likely need to meet to reconcile the inconsistent provisions before a final version of the bill can be presented to the President to sign into law.
