Patent misinformation runs rampant

The Washington Post has come out against patent reform in a poorly vetted editorial published June 12, 2012. A glaring error in the Post editorial is the statement that there is an 18 month grace period currently. Under U.S. law, the grace period actually is one year. Moreover, there will be no change in the grace period under any of the leading proposals for patent reform. Contrary to the Post commentator's opinion...

The proposed first-inventor-to-file system, under H.R. 1259, will not discriminate against the "little guy," because the "garage inventor" often can move faster and file more quickly than the large company. It is true that the world has emulated the U.S. patent system, but in this respect, the U.S. lags other countries, almost all of which have first-to-file systems. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office favors the first-inventor-to-file system, and it would not do so if it expected the new system to "exacerbate the patent backlog." Last but not least, the Post commentator's suggestion that a slow-to-file "little guy" will prevail with "laboratory logbooks" against a first-to-file large company in an expensive, complicated interference proceeding has little grounding either hypothetically or in the real world. In conclusion, Congress should act now to adopt the first-inventor-to-file system consistent with its Constitutional authority to promote the progress of technology by securing for a limited time to inventors the exclusive rights to their inventions.
For the Washington Post editorial, see http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/commentary-patent....
Misinformation about patents is all too common. Even the venture capitalist who wrote the Washington Post editorial is subject to error. The best antidote for ignorance, of course, is knowledge, and one good way of obtaining knowledge about patent law is to obtain the advice and assistance of a patent attorney.