It's The Law
How does the new budget act affect your patent?
The new Patent Reform Act, included in the Omnibus Budget Act
signed by President Clinton last November, includes several key
provisions that impact inventors:
1. Invention-promotion firms that advertise in mass media, such as
radio, TV, magazines and newspapers, must disclose their success
rate to all potential customers.
2. Inventors can now bring complaints to the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office (PTO) regarding problems with invention-promotion
firms. While the PTO lacks enforcement powers, it does maintain a
register of complaints and periodically publishes those complaints.
(Note: The PTO does have enforcement powers over patent attorneys
and patent agents.)
3. Patent-application fees for utility patents have dropped to $345
for inventors, and first patent maintenance fees (due 3 1/2 years
after the patent is awarded) have dropped to $415.
4. The PTO will now publish patent applications 18 months after
submission unless a patent has been issued or the inventor
didn't apply for any international patents. This will allow
inventors to conduct more thorough patent searches before taking on
the major expense of applying for one.
5. All patent fees will now be kept by the PTO; the funds will
allow the agency to improve both service and inventor education
programs. In years past, as much as $100 million per year had been
diverted from the PTO to other government agencies.
Don Debelak is a new-business marketing consultant and the
author of Bringing Your Product to Market (John Wiley &
Sons). Send him your invention questions at dondebelak@uswest.net.