Invention intensity?
Connecticut is one of the top three “intellectual-property intensive” states in the nation, according to a March study published by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.
The question becomes whether the state of IP gets more intense in the coming months heading into next March.
Last September, President Obama signed the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA), widely hailed as implementing the most significant changes to the U.S. patent system in nearly 60 years.
Most notably, the new law aligns the United States with the rest of the world in awarding patents to the first person or entity to file an application, rather than relying on the previous “first to invent” system that awards rights based on the date a claimant can prove they conceived an idea they subsequently seek to patent.
The first-to-file rule does not kick in until March 2013. As of this past March, inventors get what amounts to a one-year grace period protecting them for any advanced disclosure of an invention that a rival might rush into the filing process to secure rights.
An immediate question is whether any uncertainties about the new rules might squelch collaboration between techies, which Connecticut is actively promoting via initiatives such as the Stamford Innovation Center and Startup Connecticut, among others. Scott Pierce, a University of Connecticut graduate with the Massachusetts intellectual property law firm Hamilton Brook Smith & Reynolds P.C., argues sufficient precedents are in place to protect inventors in any disputes rising from collaborations, in an article scheduled to be published in the July edition of the Journal of Patent & Trademark Office Society.
Hoping to spur more collaboration locally, The Business Council of Fairfield County revealed last week the new Center for Growth Resources, in collaboration with the Connecticut Technology Council, Connecticut Innovations, and the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering, among other entities.
“For an entrepreneur or rapidly growing business, the time required to break the code and identify the resources needed can in itself be a deal breaker,” Christopher Bruhl, president and CEO of the business council, said in a statement. “By providing this point of access, we can all promote and accelerate job growth in the region.”
If entrepreneurship is up, patent filings have been down since the recession. As reported by the Fairfield County Business Journal in January, last year local patent filings sunk for a third consecutive year to their lowest level since 2002, with the recession having a clear impact on those figures.
In eight months following enactment of landmark patent reform, published filings from Connecticut inventors are down nearly 75 percent from the year before. Those figures are preliminary, however, and will escalate as the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office publishes additional applications in the coming months received since September 2011.
Not until the second half of 2014 will data begin to emerge on patent filing activity after first-to-file kicks into gear next March.
“Countless inventions that can spark new businesses are right there sitting in our backlog of unexamined patent applications,” admitted USPTO Director David Kappos, speaking at two events last month. “Under the America Invents Act we”™re making tremendous progress in reducing that backlog.”
Testifying to a U.S. Senate committee last year, Kappos said he does not expect a race to the patent office with hastily drafted applications when the new rules fully kick in. He added the first-to-invent system almost never benefits the independent inventor, and that of 3 million applications filed over the previous seven years, only 25 were granted to small entities that were the second inventor to file but were able to prove they were first to invent.