IBLS INTERNET LAW - NEWS PORTAL

Some of the more egregious changes proposed in this bill include:

• Mandatory publication of pending patent applications regardless of whether they are going to be granted as patents. This abrogates a legislative compromise crafted in 1999 that has allowed applicants who forego filing applications in foreign jurisdictions to "opt out" of pre-grant publication, thus preserving their trade secrets and preventing their own disclosures from unintentionally becoming part of the prior art.

Our Founding Fathers gave the Congress a constitutional mandate to "promote the progress of science." This Congress, if it passes this bill, will do the opposite. A patent is the only incentive for an inventor to disclose an invention to the public, rather than keeping the invention as a trade secret. This bill will take this incentive away. As had been the case for centuries, companies and independent inventors will choose to rely on trade secrets in place of patent protection. This will discourage the exchange of information and stifle innovation-leading to everyone reinventing the wheel, rather than building on others' ideas.