In an 89-9 vote on September 8, 2011, the Senate passed the America Invents Act (H.R. 1249). The Bill, which reforms patent law by amending title 35 of United States Code, is expected to be signed into law soon. Accordingly, we recommend that all USPTO patent prosecution fees that are currently payable and which are likely to be paid, should be paid immediately so as to avoid imposition of the 15% surcharge.
According to a statement released by USPTO Director David Kappos:
“Once signed into law by President Obama, this bill will give the United States Patent and Trademark Office the tools it needs to deliver cutting-edge technologies to the marketplace sooner, drive down the backlog of patent applications, and expedite the issuance of high-quality patents—all without adding a dime to the deficit.
“Significantly, as stated by leadership in both houses of Congress, this legislation enables us to access all of our fees. We intend to aggressively implement that mandate by immediately hiring new examiners, instituting new patent acceleration tools, and aggressively modernizing our IT infrastructure.
Among the many changes to U.S. patent law will be a switch from a first-to-invent to a first-to-file patent system; establishment of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board to replace the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences; and a 15% surcharge on all patent fees, effective 10 days after the law is enacted.
For further information, please see:
http://www.uspto.gov/news/pr/2011/statementaia.jsp
http://www.uspto.gov/patents/init_events/aia_implementation.jsp
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:HR01249:@@@D&summ2=m&
