Inventors, lace up your running shoes quietly

On Sept. 16, President Obama signed the America Invents Act. As a preliminary matter, no one knows what actual effect this Act will have. So, if you hear people squealing that the sky is falling or this is the end of life as we know it, take my aunt’s advice: “Wait to worry.”

Everyone in the intellectual property world has been talking about “First To File.” The United States, unlike most of the world, has always used a “First to Invent” system of patents. That means, no matter who goes to the U.S. Patent Office (USPTO) first and files, the patent…