Forthcoming changes in the US political landscape may have a significant impact upon patent law. It seems likely that both candidates in the campaign will press for reform of US patent law.
Both parties have expressed the view that patents in the US are granted too easily, and that insufficient attention is paid to previous inventions.
Opposing this view are both the pharmaceutical and technology industries, who say that further restricting their ability to achieve patent protection will impede investment in the development of new technologies as without the likelihood of some sort of right to exclusivity making research and development investment decisions is more risky.
Barak Obama is of the view that 'gold plated' patents may be useful. These would be subject to more in-depth searching, and be assumed to have greater strength by courts as a result. However, the Republican party has said that this approach would be unfair, leaving access to more enforceable patents open only to those who could afford the greater fees and related agents costs for dealing with larger volumes of prior art in the examination stage.
Commentators have expressed the view that 'gold plating' could work provided that small entities are offered reduced fees. Small entity fees are already offered to certain 'less well resourced' organisations seeking patent protection in the US.
The only area upon which both parties agree is that some sort of reform will be necessary.
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