the property laws

In America, intellectual property laws have a variety of rules and regulations aimed at protecting and regulating access to ideas, creations, and creative works. The bill maintains proprietary possession of intangible assets in the same manner as it protects intellectual property ownership in the United States (Bently & Sherman, 2014). Following the passage of the American Invents Act in 2011, America shifted its patent scheme from the standard first to invent to first to apply, where the patent is granted to the individual who files the patent first. The machine transition has many benefits and drawbacks. This paper aims at explaining the advantages and disadvantages of the traditional patent protection laws as compared to the current changes related to the laws granting the right to the first person to file.
The main advantage of the traditional first-to-invent regime is that the first inventor is rewarded as compared to the current system which rewards the race winner to the patent office. This means that the inventor is always in a position to enjoy the fruits of his or her labor which are now being enjoyed by third parties mainly not involved in the invention process (Bently & Sherman, 2014).
Secondly, the first to invent regime was more true and fair to the intent of the patent system as compared to the current first to file rule (Durham, 2013). The first to file system only benefits big companies with qualified lawyers as well as enough financial power to file as many patent applications as possible. The small investors are therefore disadvantaged as the high cost of filing patent applications usually restricts them from doing so.
The traditional first-to-invent system benefits the universities more than the current first-to-file system. The traditional system ensured that there was no need for researchers to rush a patent application to the patent offices. This allowed them to present their discoveries at scientific conferences effectively as well as to publish them in professional journals. The shift to the first-to-file system led to the sharp decline in university patents as well as a decline in technology transfer revenues.
The main disadvantage of the traditional first-to-invent system is that unlike the first-to-file system is costly and has lengthy interferences when it comes to determining who first invented a product or a process (Durham, 2013). This is not the case when it comes to the current first-to-file system which is relatively simple as the person with the earliest postmark stamp on the patent application automatically gets the patent. The cost of fighting patent interference can be prohibitive for the small inventors increasing their chances to abandon the patent application.
Proponents of the first-to-file system maintain that it is much more beneficial than the first-to-invent system as it eliminates the “secret prior art.” This art represents the inventions whose patent applications are yet to be filed, and so they can’t be accessed by any prior art search. When filed, the applications preclude other inventors from attaining a patent mainly when the conception date by the original inventor is earlier than that of conception by other inventors (Durham, 2013). Secondly, they claim that the system leads to increased certainty for the patent owner as well as the inventor that the patent rights will always be vested with the patent owner.
In conclusion, it is clear from the discussion that the shift from the traditional first-to-invent system to the current first-to-file system has numerous advantages and disadvantages. This means that patent applicants have to consider changing their existing procedures to increase the opportunities for securing patent protection under the new system.

References
Durham, A. L. (2013). Patent Law Essentials: A Concise Guide: A Concise Guide. ABC-CLIO.
Bently, L., & Sherman, B. (2014). Intellectual property law. Oxford University Press, USA.

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