Major changes in U.S. patent law enacted by Congress this year, will mark a radically new shift in the landscape for the process of seeking and obtaining patent protection for innovations. To help independent inventors, small business, universities and their faculty and students better understand and prepare for the potential impact from these changes, the National Association of Small Business and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers sponsored a free conference in August at the University of California Washington Center located in Washington D.C.

This conference examined the effect that these new patent changes will have on inventor rights, university R&D, innovation and technology transfer, commercialization, patent litigation, and the sheer complexity of this new Patent Bill. Other topics included the challenges of implementing the American Invents Act, and other related information on pending laws and legislation, and for whom it will ultimately serve.

Read the background of this historic sea change in American innovation