On the recordJune 23, 2011
The gentleman's amendment strikes the first-inventor-to-file provisions from the bill. I strongly oppose the amendment. The move to a first-inventor-to-file system creates a more efficient and reliable patent system that benefits all inventors, including independent inventors. This provision provides a more transparent and certain grace period, a key feature of U.S. law, and a more definite filing date that enables inventors to promote, fund, and market their technology while making them less vulnerable to costly patent challenges that disadvantage independent inventors. The first-inventor-to-file system is absolutely consistent with the Constitution's requirement that patents be awarded to the inventor. Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey has stated that the ``provision is constitutional and helps assure that the patent laws of this country accomplish the goal set forth in the Constitution: `to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts.' '' Under first-inventor-to-file, patent rights are reserved to someone who independently conceived of an invention before it was in the public domain. And under the Constitution, that is what is required to be considered an ``inventor.'' {time} 1530 In fact, early American patent law, that of our Founders' generation, did not concern itself with who was the first to invent. The U.S. operated under a first-inventor-to-register system for nearly half a century, starting in 1790.…
