New Patent Law Unlikely to Reduce Tech Lawsuits
As Congress prepares to pass the first major change to patent law in over a half century, experts are debating how much of a dent it will make in the current stream of technology lawsuits. Their conclusion is, not much. The new law's major provision is moving the US from a first-to-invent system of granting patents to a first-to-file system.
Tax preparers will certainly not be pleased with the part that bans patenting tax strategies. Patent lawyers say that changes in the law to expedite the judicial review process for patent lawsuits may be helpful, but the effect won't be felt for several years at least. This is because of the time it takes to implement, and also the fact that the changes will not affect existing patents and thus will not affect any of the current pending suits, such as those between billionaire Paul Allen and several Internet companies including Google.