A founding goal of our patent system is to encourage smaller innovators to bring their ideas to the marketplace. In theory, a patent furthers this goal by giving innovators time to develop an idea before having to compete with scale-advantaged larger entities.
Unfortunately, most of the proposed patent rule changes over the last several years do not seem designed to help the independent inventor. Yesterday, however, the USPTO announced a proposed rule change that would help the smaller innovator, a micro-entity discount:
“The new micro entity provision in the America Invents Acts makes our patent system more accessible for smaller innovators by entitling them to a 75% discount on patent fees,” said Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO David Kappos. “By paying discounted patent fees as micro entities, smaller innovators can access the patent system to move their ideas into the marketplace and accelerate U.S. economic growth.”
A welcome proposal, indeed. More information can be found here.