Patent reform: the big guys won, the little guys lost

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by Bob Zeidman November 2, 2011 04:10 AM

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On September 16, 2011, President Obama signed The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act into law. One of the key, and most controversial changes, is a shift in the patent priority rules from the "first-to-invent" system. Professors David S. Abrams and R . Polk Wagner performed a study on the effect of this change on entrepreneurs and individual inventors.

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Bob Zeidman of Safe Corp discusses issues of software intellectual property, analysis, and forensic engineering.

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guerino1

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November 13, 2011 9:21 AM

Hi Bob,

It looks like the small investor that can't afford to apply for expensive patents will become even more of a victim. "First Use" used to provide some level of protection, so long as you could prove First Use. But now, with "First To File," it looks like bigger entities with more money to spend can sit back, look for others' ideas, tweak them a little, and file as if they were the originating inventors.

What's interesting is that President Obama says he wants to foster innovation. It doesn't sound like "First To File" does this.

My Best,

Frank
--
Frank Guerino
Chairman
The International Foundation for Information Technology (IF4iT)

Bob Zeidman

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November 26, 2011 12:41 PM

Hi Frank,

I agree with you. I know some patent attorneys believe first-to-file won't change things because very few patents are challenged on their date of invention. But I think big companies may start filing or publishing all of their inventions, securing them the patent if they decide to get it and abandoning the patent if they think it's not worthwhile.

Regards,
-Bob

Bob Zeidman President, SAFE Corp.

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