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Partner in the firm’s Intellectual Property Group, Erdal Dervis commented on the America Invents Act in the Financial Times (“US patent law aims to streamline process”) on September 17, 2011.

According to lawyers and tech industry executives, the America Invents Act “should streamline the system for issuing patents, while easing the threat to big technology companies from mounting intellectual property lawsuits.”

Specifically, the new law will:

• Allow the US Patent and Trademark Office to set its own fees, enabling it to hire more examiners to increase the time spent on reviewing applications and to work on a backlog of applications that is almost three years old;
• Award patents based on whether an applicant was the first to file an idea, rather than the first to invent it; and
• Allow anyone to request a review of new patents within nine months of their being issued.

Supporters of the law feel “the changes should end the uncertainties that can be caused by disputes over the timing of rival inventions, while also giving limited new rights to challenge weak patents at an early stage.”

However, some experts believe the law “could have unintended consequences as it seeks to boost the quality of patents issued in the U.S. and reduce the number of legal disputes they can provoke.” Specifically, small business groups have complained that it will become more difficult and costly for their members to protect their intellectual property rights.

Other patent experts, including Dervis, have argued though that small companies would benefit as much as big ones if the uncertainty caused by weak patents was removed.

“In the long run, the goal is to create stronger IP rights in the first place,” said Dervis. It should be easier for new companies to get financial backing if there are fewer doubts about the validity of their IP, he added.