Microsoft patent reform ideas - largely in-line with AIPLA proposals

On Thursday, Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith presented the company’s ideas for reform of the US patent system.  Speaking at the American Enterprise Institute, Mr. Smith presented ideas that have been discussed within the company among executives, but which never had been made public before.

In large part, the Microsoft ideas are in-line with the reform measures currently being proposed by the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) at its Town Hall Meetings on Patent Reform, which it co-sponsors with the Federal Trade Commission and the National Academies.

Reforms common to both Microsoft and AIPLA include:

• ending diversion of Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) fees to other governmental budget areas
• establishment of a post-grant opposition procedure housed within the PTO
• adoption of a first-to-file system (and elimination of the current first-to-invent system) (NOTE:  AIPLA supports a first-inventor-to-file system)
• changing publication rules to require publication of all pending applications at 18 months from filing
• modification of the willfulness standard in patent litigation

Areas in which Microsoft would go farther than AIPLA include:

• establishment of a specialized federal district court that would hear all patent cases
• allowing individuals and small businesses to qualify for a zero-filing fee system 

NOTE:  The Microsoft story appears all over the news today.  Thanks to Nipper for pointing me to the article with the most useful information.