Small Business Technology News
Expedited Patent Process To Increase Small Business Innovation
Written by Jenna Weiner
Published: 3/10/2011
Senate approves expediting patents to small businesses.
Earlier this week, small business news reported the U.S. Senate passed a bill that aids small companies seeking patents by offering them extra help and expediting the approval process.
One of the main reasons experts believe that the measure will spur increased innovation in the sector is that the bill allows the U.S. Patent Office to keep its fees, rather than funnel them back into the federal government.
While these two benefits may seem unconnected, Michael Carrier, a professor at Rutgers Law School who specializes in intellectual property law, told Business News Daily that the influx of funds would help the office reduce its "staggering backlog" and allow for patents to be issued and more quickly.
"It would lower costs and bring the U.S. into line with the rest of the world, which awards patents to the first to file an application, rather than first to invent. And it would create a new procedure by which third parties could challenge patents after they have been issued," Carrier told the source.
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