HTA-0592: Patent Law Reform — America Invents Act

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Summary

Henry reports on the U.S. Senate passing the most sweeping reform of patent law since 1952.

Full Transcript

00:00
The U.S. Senate passed a law which will now go to the White House, the most sweeping reform of U.S. patent law since 1952.

00:09
Are you an inventor? You're not? That's okay. It's still very important for you.

00:15
And we have with us a man who can explain why.

00:18
Raj Abhyankar is an inventor, a patent lawyer. He has a search website for patent law.

00:27
And he was at the White House last week explaining his ideas on how that law can best be implemented.

00:33
Thank you for joining us.

00:34
So first of all, Raj, the new law, what does it change that will affect our economy?

00:40
Well, it makes it, it creates an incentive for innovators to start new companies

00:45
and express their ideas in writing rather than keep it in their own heads.

00:50
How does it do that? What is the change?

00:52
Because until now, throughout American history, if you had an idea first, it was yours.

00:59
But now you have to actually file an application with the government to get protection on that idea.

01:05
So this is a little counterintuitive to me because under the new law, it's not a matter of who has the idea first.

01:14
It's a matter of who patents it first.

01:17
That's going to make it a lot easier because there will be a lot fewer battles with inventors saying,

01:21
wait a minute, I thought of that first, and somebody else says, well, but I filed the patent first,

01:25
and the courts messed that up completely.

01:28
But it sounds to me like this is a disadvantage for the inventors.

01:31
How does this help?

01:32
Well, the reality is, even if you come up with an idea first, it's only as good as you can prove it in court.

01:38
And it's very difficult to prove that you came up with the idea first.

01:43
So inventors have also had a tough time writing their ideas down,

01:47
because they have this protection in the back of their head that, oh, I don't need to do it, I invented it first.

01:51
Right. And as long as you've got it in your head, well, then you think you can go to court and win.

01:55
And you probably won't.

01:56
Not anymore.

01:57
No, even before.

01:58
Oh, OK.

01:59
Because unless you had the evidence to show that you had invented it first, then you don't really have those rights.

02:07
OK.

02:08
So it's a fiction.

02:09
So, but that is, I mean, it's still the case, though, that you're going to have to file that patent.

02:15
And for most people, that's a tremendously daunting task, even under the new law, apparently.

02:19
You're saying that needs to change.

02:21
Well, I was asked to explain to the White House why, if this law were to pass, how could it best be implemented?

02:30
And in my particular view, I thought there are lots of ways of implementing the law to make it easier for innovators and inventors to file a patent application.

02:40
Okay, so let us suppose I have invented a double-edged, single-handled overhead hoe for overhead gardening.

02:48
So how in your world would I best patent that?

02:51
In my view, you would explain it on a camera.

02:54
Take your iPhone or iPad, turn it around on yourself, and explain how it works.

02:58
Have someone hold it.

03:00
And go to the USPTO website.

03:03
US Patent and Trade Office.

03:04
Yes.

03:05
And upload your video and get an instant provisional patent application.

03:10
That's my view of how it should be done.

03:12
So you would like to see them implement some kind of a system,

03:15
And now you've put in that provisional patent, presumably at some, and you can do that theoretically, you're a patent lawyer.

03:21
You would be able to do that without a lawyer?

03:23
Provisional patent applications aren't examined by the government.

03:26
They're just a placeholder.

03:28
But it gives you rights so that now you can spend a year perfecting your idea and then hire a lawyer.

03:34
You don't have to hire a lawyer right away.

03:36
And even filing a provisional right now requires you to write your ideas down.

03:40
People have great ideas, but it takes them a long time to get those ideas out of their heads and write them on paper.

03:45
What are the odds this is actually going to happen, that the administration, the U.S. Patent and Trade Office, will ever change things so they can do that?

03:52
So that was my suggestion, and they thought it was a reasonable one.

03:56
I don't know what will happen beyond that.

03:58
But it could work under this law more easily than the old one.

04:01
Easily, yes, because it's going to encourage more inventors to get their ideas out.

04:05
So the government has to make it easier to get those ideas out.

04:08
Okay, great. Well, thank you very much. Nice to have somebody who's been right at the source of the ideas.

04:15
Raja Biancar, he's an entrepreneur, he's an inventor, he's a patent lawyer, and his website is Trademarkia.com.

04:24
It is a patent and trademark search engine.

04:27
Yeah, it's a search engine for trademarks. It makes government data more interesting to average people.

04:31
Okay, well, thank you very much for sharing your idea.

04:33
It sounds like a great idea to me because that overhead hoe, I'm going to make a fortune on it.

04:40
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