INVENTORS in the US have caught up with the rest of the world ? but many don't like it.
Until last week the US Patent and Trademark Office ran a first-to-invent system. Date-stamped notes proved when a gadget was invented, trouncing any rival who might have filed first.
The rest of the world's patent offices operate a first-to-file system, in which the first inventor to file a valid patent gets the rights to the idea. To simplify patenting in global markets, on 16 March the US came into line with the rest of the world, and now operates a first-to-file system.
Small inventors complain that the loss of date stamping will help mega corporations invent around their ideas and patent first.
But that happens already, says Peter Finnie, a patent attorney in London: "First-to-invent favoured major corporations too because they are the ones with the resources to accurately record their work and get it legally countersigned."
This article appeared in print under the headline "A patent change"
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