American Innovators for Patent Reform

American Innovators for Patent Reform (AIPR), a non-profit organization based in New York City, is a coalition of inventors, patent owners, researchers, engineers, entrepreneurs, corporate executives, patent agents and attorneys, and others involved in creating or protecting innovation and advocating for stronger patent protection in the ongoing debate on patent reform.
AIPR is opposed to the Innovation Act (H.R. 9) that was recently introduced in Congress. American Innovators for Patent Reform believes that the Innovation Act has nothing to do with "innovation," and that it is an attempt by "Big Tech" to make it riskier and more expensive for inventors, small and start-up businesses, and universities to assert their intellectual property rights.
AIPR supports full funding for the Patent Office, a 21st Century multi-tier patent system, reduced patent pendency, stronger U.S. Patents, and more vigorous patent enforcement.
Amendments and changes to patent law.
Since the United States Congress passed the first Patent Act of 1790, additional amendments were passed in 1793, 1836, 1839, 1870, 1897, 1903, 1928 and 1939. A complete revision of the Patent Act took place in 1952 and is the current law of patents, although it has been amended several times, with substantive legislation in 1999 the most recent.
The Intellectual Property and Communications Omnibus Reform Act of 1999 expanded patent and copyright protections to cover activity on the internet and protections for new forms of media, against cybersquatting, domain name protection for personal names and a new compulsory license for Satellite Carriers. The Ominbus Reform Act also included additional protections for U.S. patent holders, including the American Inventors Protection Act, First Inventor Defense Act, Patent Term Guarantee Act, Domestic Publication of Foreign Filed and Patent Applications Act. The Patent Reform Act of 2005, introduced into the 109th Congress, and the Patent Reform Act of 2007, introduced into the 110th Congress, were substantial rewritings of the entire Patent Act of 1952 but both failed to pass and be signed into law.
Controversy over current U.S. Patent Law and the PTO.
The patent system in the U. S. had not been substantially updated by the United States Congress in 50 years, and it has also been more than 30 years since the Patent Office (PTO) updated its rules for examining patent applications and this has created a backlog of patent applications that total approximately 750,000 to one million. In addition, approximately $750 million in user fees from 1991 to 2003 was diverted from the PTO to other United States agencies as authorized by the Commerce-Justice-State Appropriations bill. As innovations and inventions have grown increasingly complex and are being created at an even more rapid pace. The patent approval process in the United States today has become inefficient and a major obstacle to the creation of a robust environment that fosters innovation and invention, important components of the American economic engine.
Backlog.
A backlog of approximately 1 million patent applications currently exists; it takes 33 months for patent applications to be approved or rejected; for sectors like communications in which new technologies develop rapidly approval/rejection can be up to 44 months. Long delays in the patent approval/rejection process create uncertainty and stifle the availability of investment capital and the resulting innovation and creation of new products and technologies since there is risk of infringement on a patent the Patent Office eventually issues for an older invention.
Patent quality.
Patent examiners at the PTO work under antiquated rules and with outdated information technology systems that handicap the entire patent review process. In addition the US patent examiner attrition rate is significantly higher than that of other patent offices. As a result of an inefficient and overwhelmed review process and administrative and budgetary problems there is a widely perceived decline in the quality of the patents approved by the PTO. Adding to the problem of patent-quality approval are overreaching patent applicants who seek to take advantage by claiming a larger array of uses for their invention than actually proven. That in turn triggers more challenges, including expensive and time-consuming court cases, which inject even more uncertainty into the patent landscape.
The Patent Reform Act of 2009.
The Patent Reform Act of 2009 (S. 515) was introduced on March 3, 2009, in the 111th United States Congress by Senators Orrin Hatch and Patrick Leahy. On March 3, 2009 Representative John Conyers introduced a House version of the legislation, H.R. 1260 [9], and on March 17 Senator Jon Kyl introduced another bill, S. 610. The proposed legislation closely resembles previous attempts at patent law reform in the United States, including the Patent Reform Act of 2005 and Patent Reform Act of 2007. Among others, proposed changes in the 2009 Senate Bill include:
Support for the Patent Form Act of 2009.
A number of companies (Apple, Cisco Systems, Google, Microsoft, Oracle, Palm, SAP, among others) and several coalitions (Coalition for Patent Fairness, Business Software Alliance and The Software and Information Industry Association) support the Patent Reform Act of 2009. The proposed patent reform legislation currently before Congress is supported primarily by large software and technology companies. Supporters of the proposed legislation claim reform will help counter the increasing number of frivolous lawsuits and mitigate damages companies and individuals are forced to pay. Reform would also simplify the patent application process and bring U.S. patent law in line with patent laws of other countries, most of which operate on the "first-to-file" system.
Opposition to the Patent Reform Act of 2009.
Opposition to the Patent Reform Act of 2009 comes from an array of diverse groups and industries that represent Aerospace and Defense, Agricultural companies, Biotech, Chemical and Pharmaceutical firms, Diversified Financials, Diversified Technology, Energy, Food Production, Forest & Paper Products, Health Care, Household and Personal Products, Industrial Equipment, Labor Unions, Medical Equipment and Devices, Network & Communications, Payroll Services, Research Universities, Semiconductors & Electronic Components, Small Inventors and Transportation Equipment and Venture Capitalists. Most opposition comes from the view that the proposed legislation will undermine property rights of inventors, stifle innovation and threaten American competitiveness.
AIPR Opposition to The Patent Reform Act of 2009.
AIPR was founded on the following viewpoints regarding patent reform:
AIPR's position on Patent Reform.
American Innovators for Patent Reform opposes the Patent Reform Act of 2009 currently pending before Congress. Specifically, AIPR opposes:
AIPR proposes an alternative reform to strengthen and modernize the US patent system and to provide U.S. patentees with more robust patent rights internationally. Some of these proposals include:
Legislation that will require the U.S. government to seek trade agreements that remove the built-in trade barriers of foreign patent laws by securing for American inventors rights similar to those available in the U.S. for foreign inventors. This includes adoption of the 1-year “grace period” for invention disclosure and providing reduced fees for small patenting entities in foreign patent offices.