At a time when America is trying to
regain its economic footing, we need to ensure that new innovation is
taking place at a rapid place that can help pull the country out of
tough times. However, it’s hard to move forward on that front when
there’s a major backlog of patent applications at the USPTO, slowing
down the process through which major and important new innovations can
be granted patents. It looks like President Obama is finally realizing
just how important patent reform is.
Kim Hart of The Hill
reported
late yesterday afternoon that President Barack Obama revealed his
opinion on the antiquated U.S. patent system at the Forum on
Modernizing Government:
“’Believe it or
not, in our patent office -- now, this is embarrassing -- this is an
institution responsible for protecting and promoting innovation -- our
patent office receives more than 80 percent of patent applications
electronically, then manually prints them out, scans them, and enters
them into an outdated case management system,’ Obama said…”
“This is one of the reasons why the average processing time for a patent is roughly three years,” Obama
added.
Now if our own President is embarrassed by our patent system, perhaps
it is time for a change. Patent reform should address up-to-date
technology that can handle the number of patent applications that are
filed each month and should be able deal with the backlog of
applications.
Congress needs to act this year to pass patent reform legislation that
will bring USPTO technology into the 21st Century and up to speed with
the latest, cutting edge technology. Only then, can innovation prosper
and help to improve our economy.
For more information on the U.S. patent system and the USPTO, visit
www.uspto.gov.
