Google vs Apple vs Samsung vs Microsoft … the patent wars in recent times have overwhelmed the technological world, and, it is hoped that the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, which was signed into law by President Obama, on Friday, will provide a solution to such unproductive and time-consuming litigations.
The America Invents Act, passed through the Senate last week, is an Act seeking to reform the way patents are awarded. The White House believes the Act will help companies and inventors avoid costly delays and unnecessary litigation, and let them focus instead on innovation and job creation. Many key industries in which the United States is a leader, such as biotechnology, medical devices, telecommunications, the Internet and advanced manufacturing depend on a strong and healthy intellectual property system.
Patents have long been the bane and boon of software innovation. Boon because it ensured that innovators were awarded for their creativity and work, and, bane because it has been the crux of litigations between large corporations. However, the US Patent and Trademark Office has been unable to rein in the mess created, resulting in endless wars between companies as well the rise of companies which exist as ‘patent trolls.’
Herb Wamsley, executive director of the Intellectual Property Owners Association, hit the nail on the head when he said of the Patent and Trademark Office, “The system is overwhelmed, underfunded and grinding to a halt.” This is a clarion call for lawyers to come in and do their stuff.
The new America Invents Act which shifts towards a ‘first-to-file patent system’ rather than just a ‘first-to-invent system’, it is hoped will put into place an efficiently operating IP system that processes applications and issues high quality patents quickly. This is especially vital to small and new businesses, which create two out of every three new American jobs.
By moving to a simple and more inventor-friendly method of issuing patents, the Act is expected to help ensure that independent investors and small entities have greater clarity and certainty over their property rights and will be able to deal with the patent system as well as the large corporations.
Most importantly, the America Invents Act lays down a new in-house review process for challenging patents, which is faster and significantly cheaper than litigation, which not only hampers technological growth but also results in huge monetary expenditures.
However, there are also those who have reservations about the bill and feel that it will not do much to lessen the ongoing software patent wars. Ed Black, president and chief executive of the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) told AFP, “The reforms don’t effectively address the real serious problems of our patent system. The bill tinkers in various ways, some things good and some bad, but it is not a game-changer, too many patents are issued that are simply not high-quality patents.”
Whether the Act will or will not have major positive impacts on the software industry will be clear only within the next few years, since the law will not go into effect for the next 18 months.
And, yet, the America Invents Act, might please Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt, who recently said at Dreamforce 2011 in San Francisco that he thought patents have been handed out too generally in the past and would like to see a more systematic approach to the approval process.