Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke on Patent Law Reform.

There is an interesting article at Politico by Gary Locke, Secretary of Commerce, on the reasons that patent law reform should be enacted.  Most notable, in our opinion, are the portions of the current reform bill that were emphasized by the Secretary for their importance.

The Commerce Department just released a white paper that quantifies the effect America’s patent system has on the economy and job creation and describes the benefits of two key elements of pending patent reform legislation.

First, Congress will grant fee-setting authority to the patent office, which will enable it to adjust the actual costs of the services it provides. This could contribute significantly to the office’s ability to reduce the application backlog by 40 percent.

Second, creating an enhanced post-grant review procedure within the office will provide an alternative to costly — and often lengthy — litigation. It could also provide greater marketplace certainty — at lower cost. This review procedure is expected to be 50-100 times less expensive than litigation.

Thoughts from our readership?