On the recordMarch 2, 2011
I have heard more and more in the past 2 years from small inventors, startup companies, small businesses, venture capitalists, and, yes, even large companies from all around our country, but especially in my State of California, that this proposed transition from our first-to-invent system to a first-to-file system would be severely harmful to innovation, and especially burdensome on small inventors, startups, and small businesses. And I have become convinced it is the wrong thing to do. For over a century, our country has awarded patents to the first inventor to come up with an idea, even if somebody else beat them to the Patent Office--a first-to-invent system. This bill would change that, so that the first person to file an application for a patent for a particular invention would be entitled to that patent, even if another person actually created the invention first.
