Hatch unveils measure to help protect patents

WASHINGTON — Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, has introduced a bill aimed at reforming U.S. patent policies to protect people's inventions and ideas.

Hatch, along with Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, and Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., said Wednesday that the compromises in the bill will help it get through Congress, something it has failed to do in the past.

"The patent system is the bedrock of innovation in our country and especially in today's global economy," Hatch said.

This bill addresses the procedural and administrative aspects of the patent system, which governs how entities in the United States apply for, receive and eventually make use of patents.

Leahy said the current patents laws were "crafted for an earlier time, when smokestacks rather than microchips were the emblems of industry. Those laws have served well but need some refinements."

The bill creates a "first-to-file" system, which would change the current system of granting patents to the first inventor, making the U.S. system consistent with those in other countries. The bill also changes how patents can be reviewed among numerous other provisions.