To pass or quash? America Invents Act Changes

If you're an entrepreneur/inventor and you have a great idea, the fact you have a patent or will get one is irrelevant to investors. Why?

a) patents can be stolen (then tied up in courts by bigger firms);
b) there's a two year wait on applications thereby making some inventions obsolete by the team they're released.

It's the latter that is being addressed in a bill put forward to the House. Currently the backlog at the U.S. Patent office is around 700,000 people ahead of you in line.

Congress is expected to vote this week on a patent reform bill that would change the rules about who gets to file for a patent. Republican members of Congress from California are split over the measure.

That legislation is the America Invents Act. Its cosponsors include California Republican congressmen Darrell Issa and Elton Gallegly.

It’s opposed by a bipartisan group of House members that includes Dana Rohrabacher of Huntington Beach.


We'll keep you posted on development on the House results.

Some more thoughts:

Pro:
http://www.chamberpost.com/2011/06/pass-the-america-invents-act/

Con:
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/economy-a-budget/167565-the-america-invents-act-is-bad-for-the-economy