Today, President Obama signed the America Invents Act into law, formally bringing an end to more than two centuries of American patent law. Once the law takes effect, the "first to invent" standard previously used to determine patent ownership - roughly put, the person who can demonstrate by combination of conception and attempt to put their concept into practice is likely to be declared patent holder in the event of a filing conflict - will be replaced by a version of the "first to file" system favored by every other nation on earth. In a "first to file" system, priority of deciding who owns an invention's patent goes to the first person or entity to file for the patent, regardless of the date of invention.
The chief advantage advanced in favor of a first to file system is that it would reduce the number of patent disputes and enable businesses in the U.S. and abroad to interact on similar legal ground. Detractors of the system contend that it essentially skews the business environment in favor of large corporations, at the expense of individual entrepreneurs and small startup companies. Indeed, when Canada switched to a first to file system in 1989, a later study found a small but measurable adverse effect on smaller inventors. READ THE FULL ARTICLE: Tom's Hardware
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