As many of you now know, President Obama signed the AIA into law on September 16th. While many of the provisions of the new Patent Act will be staggered, the USPTO will be changing its fee structure as of September 26th (just a few days away).
The new listing is at http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/qs/ope/fee092611.htm.
A few other points that are being currently addressed and discussed about the new act include:
- Tax strategy inventions. Provides that any strategy for reducing, avoiding, or deferring tax liability, whether known or unknown at the time of the invention or application for patent, shall be deemed insufficient to differentiate a claimed invention from the prior art.
- False marking. Would eliminate false marking suits except for ones filed by the US government or filed by a competitor who can prove competitive injury.
- Filing by other than inventor. Would enable an entity to file an application on behalf of an inventor who assigned, or is under an obligation to assign, the invention rights to the entity, without seeking the inventor’s execution of the application.
- Oath and declaration. Would make it easier for a corporation to file a substitute inventor’s oath when the inventor cannot be reached or is non-cooperative.
- Best mode. Although an inventor will still be required to “set forth” the best mode for accomplishing the invention, the bill would exclude failure to disclose a best mode from being used as a basis for invalidating an issued patent
