On the recordMarch 8, 2011
I rise today to make a few comments about the present bill, which has now been retitled the ``America Invents Act.'' This bill is almost identical to the managers' amendment that was negotiated by Chairman Leahy and then-Ranking Member Sessions during the last Congress and announced in March 2010. I cosponsored and strongly supported that managers' amendment, which substantially addressed all of the concerns that Senators Feingold, Coburn, and I raised in our Minority Report to the 2009 committee report for the bill, Senate Report 111-18, at pages 53 through 61. As the bill was renegotiated in the fall of 2009 and early 2010, improvements and corrections were made throughout the bill, and a number of new provisions were added. I would like to take a moment to comment on some of those changes and additions. In section 2(a) of the bill, the definition of ``effective filing date'' in section 100(i) has been modified in several ways. In subparagraph (A), the word ``actual'' is added before ``filing date.'' When the word ``filing date'' is used in current law, it is sometimes used to mean the actual filing date and sometimes used to mean the effective filing date. Since section 100 is a definitional section, it should be clear in its language, and thus the word ``actual'' is added in order to avoid a lingering ambiguity.
