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The America Invents Act and Its Importance to Patent Prosecution in the Biotech Sector
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This article was first published in Industrial Biotechnology Volume 8, Issue 2, 2012 and was written by Fish’s Tiffany A. Reiter, Erin L. Baker, and J. Peter Fasse.
On September 16th, 2011, President Barack Obama signed the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) into law. With enactment of the AIA, the US patent system will undergo the most significant reform that it has experienced since enactment of the Patent Act of 1952. In a press release issued by the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) following final passage of the AIA, BIO President and CEO Jim Greenwood stated that “(t)he improvements made by the bill will benefit all sectors of the national economy by enhancing patent quality and the efficiency, objectivity predictability and transparency of the U.S. patent system.” Greenwood went on to say that “(s)mall biotechnology companies rely heavily on their patents to attract investment,” and “they will benefit from the improvements to our nation’s patent system made by this legislation.” Changes under the new rules could have a significant impact on the biotechnology industry, and there is debate over whether those changes will help or hinder the sector’s efforts to obtain and enforce patents.
Read this Patent Update as published in Industrial Biotechnology.
The opinions expressed are those of the authors on the date noted above and do not necessarily reflect the views of Fish & Richardson P.C., any other of its lawyers, its clients, or any of its or their respective affiliates. This post is for general information purposes only and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is formed.