Obama Signs Patent Reform Bill Into Law

By Andrea Salazar

When Thomas Edison filed a patent for the phonograph, it took him seven weeks to get it approved. Today, it takes an average of 3 years. 

In an effort to change that, Congress passed the America Invents Act earlier this year, and President Obama signed it into law today at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Va.

“We have to do everything we can to encourage the entrepreneurial spirit wherever we find it,” Obama said. “We should be helping American companies compete and sell their products all over the world. We should be making it easier and faster to turn new ideas into new jobs and new businesses and we should knock down any barriers that stand in the way.”

The president said the law would remove some of the red tape that makes it slow to get a patent approved. Other changes to patent law now include a first-to-file instead of first-to-invent standard, something opponents of the bill worry will give big companies an advantage over new innovators.

Despite some opposition, however, the America Invents Act of 2011 passed with bipartisan support. The president took the opportunity to talk about his American Jobs Act and urged the same kind of support for that bill.

“We came together to pass patent reform. We should be able to come together to also put people back to work,” he said.