SiliconBeat

I’ve been following the patent reform debate closely. This is one of those perennial issues that everyone wants to see fixed, but can never find a compromise. But today comes word that the White House has backed a compromise that promises to move legislation at least out of committee. From the Wall Street Journal:

“President Barack Obama’s administration supports major changes proposed in landmark patent legislation, likely accompanied by a roughly 15% fee hike, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director David Kappos said Tuesday.

“While a compromise, it clearly moves the ball forward,” Kappos said of the bill, which if approved would bring the first major changes to the patent process in 50 years. On Monday, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke wrote a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee expressing support for the Senate legislation.

The bill, introduced by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., pushes to harmonize the U.S. patent process with international standards and grants the patent office more authority to make rules and increase fees.

We’ll see if the center holds on this. Among the biggest changes:

And as part of meshing the U.S. patent system with international standards, the bill proposes switching from a “first to invent” system to a “first to file” system that grants the patent to the first person to successfully complete the necessary paperwork.

“It’s a much simpler approach,” said David Tennant, an intellectual property partner at White & Case LLP. Identifying the first inventor often involves long and expensive debates, he said.

Again, with all these changes, there are always winners and losers. We’ll have to wait to see how those interests line up. And more importantly, how much lobbying muscle they have. Patent reform is one of those “I’ll believe it when I see it” issues.