Prior User Rights Study Report to Congress - America Invents Act

REPORT ON PRIOR USER RIGHTSUNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICESection TitleCONTENTSPageEXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................ 1I. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................. 5II. BACKGROUND................................................................................................................................. 9III. DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................................... 10A. Comparison of Prior Use Provisions in Industrialized Countries ............................................. 10B. Impact of Prior User Rights on Innovation, Start-up Enterprises, Small Businesses,Individual Inventors and Universities....................................................................................... 28C. Analysis of Legal and Constitutional Issues with Placing Trade Secret Law in Patent Law .... 41D. Analysis of Whether a First-to-File Patent System Creates a Need for Prior User Rights ....... 47IV. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................. 53Appendix A: Prior Use Defense in the American Inventors Protection Act of 1999 ............................... 55Appendix B: Prior Use Defense in the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act ............................................... 56Appendix C: List of Parties Providing Testimony and/or Comments ...................................................... 58Appendix D: Comparison Chart of Studied Countries ............................................................................. 60ii