Written by Gene Quinn, of IPWatchdog and Practice Center Contributor.
Since prior user rights first came up as an issue in the patent reform debate I have been opposed to the idea. Whether I like prior user rights or not, the reality is that prior user rights are now a part of U.S. patent law. Nevertheless, the debate goes on about whether prior user rights are a good idea. In fact, the United States Patent and Trademark Office is tasked through the America Invents Act with conducting a Prior User Rights Study. To facilitate this study a public hearing on prior user rights was held on October 25 in the Madison Auditorium at its Alexandria, Virginia campus of the USPTO.
With this in mind I thought I would once again revisit prior user rights. One of the arguments I have heard recently supporting prior user rights is that a corporation that is going to invest billions of dollars into a facility should know that their investment is safe and that the plant can’t be shut down by a later filed patent application. This argument is so specious as to be nearly laughable if you ask me. This strikes me as just more of corporate America wanting the government to save them from themselves.
Click here for IPWatchdog’s full article.
Tags: America Invents Act, defenses, international law, Patent Litigation, Patent Office, Patent Reform, prior user rights, USPTO
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