The American Inventors Protection Act (AIPA) is a
United States federal law
The law of the United States comprises many levels of codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the most important is the nation's Constitution, which prescribes the foundation of the federal government of the United States, as well as va ...
enacted on November 29, 1999, as Public Law 106-113. In 2002, the Intellectual Property and High Technology Technical Amendments Act of 2002, Public Law 107-273, amended AIPA.
AIPA contains significant changes to American Patent Law. AIPA added
* An "earlier invention" defense for
business method patent
Business method patents are a class of patents which disclose and claim new methods of doing business. This includes new types of e-commerce, insurance, banking and tax compliance etc. Business method patents are a relatively new species of paten ...
s – 35 U.S.C. §273;
* Publication of US patent applications for foreign published applications – 35 U.S.C. §122;
* Patent term restoration for delays caused by the
Patent and Trademark Office – 35 U.S.C. §154;
* The
Request for Continued Examination (RCE) patent prosecution procedure; and
* Disclosure requirements for
invention promotion firm An invention promotion firm or invention submission corporation provides services to inventors to help them in develop or market their inventions. These firms may offer to evaluate the patentability of inventions, file patent applications, build ...
s.
Political considerations
Large corporations generally supported the bill.
Independent inventor
An independent inventor is a person who creates inventions independently, rather than for an employer.
Many independent inventors patent their inventions so that they have rights over them, and hope to earn income from selling or licensing them. U ...
s generally opposed the bill.
Edward Robinson "They Saved Small Business When corporate America tried to seize the patent system from independent inventors, this Boston couple came to the rescue.", Fortune Small Business Magazine, April 1, 2000
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See also
*Patent Reform Act of 2005
The Patent Reform Act of 2005 () was United States patent law, United States patent legislation proposed in the 109th United States Congress. Texas Republican Party (United States), Republican Congressman Lamar S. Smith introduced the Act on 8 Jun ...
References
Further reading
The American Inventor’s Protection Act: A Legislative History
Wake Forest Intellectual Property Law Journal
J. Richardson and K. Sibley, THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND COMMUNICATIONS OMNIBUS REFORM ACT OF 1999: an Overview for IP Practitioners
North Carolina Journal of Law & Technology
''North Carolina Journal of Law & Technology'' (JOLT) is a semi-annual student publication of the University of North Carolina School of Law. The journal, one of the first of its kind, was founded in 1998 and is viewed as one of the top law and te ...
United States federal patent legislation
Acts of the 106th United States Congress
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