Patent Law

Dulling the Edge

By Gary Odom and Jordan Kuhn

The International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers, damning S. 1145: 

It would threaten our nation's competitive edge in a number of significant ways - including allowing foreign based companies to challenge the U.S. patents of American manufacturers... Patent reform must not undermine our manufacturing base by diminishing the returns for those whose creativity and ingenuity has been one of the key ingredients to America's economic strength.

Specific condemnation of Sen. Leahy's brainchild (using the term perversely):

? Non-inventor application provision: Allows patent applications to be filed by a person other than the inventor.
? 18-month publication provision: Forces disclosure of innovations before there has been a determination as to what patent protection, if any, the inventor will receive.
? Post grant opposition provision: A hunting license for entrenched competitors to attack patents of small innovative companies in order to tie up a patent in a long expensive proceeding.

Read the document.

Full post as published by The Patent Prospector on April 13, 2008 (boomark / email).