US House OKs patent reform bill, chops damage awarded

The US House of Representatives endorsed an amended version of the Patent Reform Act, which carried the most sweeping changes in the past 50 years, including elevation of patent grant threshold and significant downsizing of damages awarded to patent holders who win infringement cases. 

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers described the current patent system as inefficient, bogged down by inappropriate litigation rules, unreliably funded, and resulting in patents of “questionable quality.” The bill would make it harder to secure a patent and easier for rivals to challenge one, and it would change how courts determine an infringed patent's value." 

The US is the only country in the  world using “first-to-invent practice”.  The bill would change the process to the “first to file”, aligning it with the systems in use in Europe, Japan and China and ending the lingering problem  of the current practice that the identity of an inventor can be hard to prove.  The bill would also create a post-grant opposition proceeding, allowing third parties to challenge newly issued patents by furnishing evidences.  (by Wei Xiaomao)

美拟大幅减少专利侵权赔偿数额

众议院通过专利法修正案

本报讯　近日，美国众议院通过了美国50年来最全面的专利法修正案。该修正案提高了专利授权的门槛，大幅减少了专利侵权案中专利权人胜诉后获得的赔偿数额。

美国众议院司法委员会主席约翰?科尼尔斯表示，此次专利法修改重点关注的就是专利权泛滥的问题。该修正案提高了专利授权的条件，加大了专利申请的难度；引入新的赔偿数额计算法，大幅减少了专利权人胜诉后获得的赔偿数额。

据了解，美国专利授权一直采用“先发明制”。根据此次修改，美国将采取类似欧洲、日本、中国的“先申请先获得”原则，结束多年来一直困扰美国专利体系的关于谁是第一发明人的争论。新修正案还引入了“授予后反对”的规则，允许第三人提出证据，对新近被授予的专利提出质疑。

?穴魏小毛）