According to Bernard Klosowski, an Entrepreneur contributor, explains in Will the New Patent Law Kill the Garage Inventor and Startup that the new patent law is changing the game for new organizations. In the past, patents favored the entrepreneur who gave birth to their business in their homes, but all of that is changing now.
The change in the patent law is unfortunate because America has been known as the global ground breaker in business revolution. Previously, America had the “first to invent” system when it came to obtaining patents. This methodology was created by the “Founding Fathers” and allowed inventors to file patents even if a substantial organization had already filed the same patent. Small organizations and entrepreneurs could still register their patent if they could establish that they were the first to create the product.
However, this is all changing because big business are tired of disputing “patent infringement lawsuits” from entrepreneurs, and they pressured Congress and the president to make changes. As a result, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office began to make the U.S. patent laws similar to other countries. This created the America Invents Act based on a “first-to-file” system. This system assigns the patent to the individual or organization who registers for the patent first.
Now inventors must race to file a petition for a patent before big business learn of their invention and file a patent application first. This is unfortunate because the innovators of America have:
…to devote more time and resources to securing legal and professional representation to protect their inventions and less time to what they do best: inventing the new products and technologies that have made America a global innovator.
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