Last night, the Senate voted 93-5 to end its debate on the motion to proceed with the America Invents Act, commonly referred to as the patent-reform bill. Final passage of the bill could happen by the end of the week, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The bill would update U.S. patent law so that patents are granted to those who are the “first to file” for a patent as opposed to the country’s current “first to invent” awarding system, which reform supporters say leads to frivolous lawsuits filed by patent trolls.
The Obama administration and large companies, especially those in the tech industry, support the patent-reform bill, which would modernize the country’s patent law to reflect the system widely used around the world.
