On September 7, 2007, the US House of Representatives voted 220-175 in favor of the Patent Reform Act of 2007, the first overhaul of US patent laws in more than 50 years. The reforms would have changed the current system of granting patent rights to the first inventor and instead adopt a "first-to-file" system, recognizing patent rights in the first person who actually files for patents. The bill would have amended the system of post-patent review for those seeking to challenge the validity of a patent and would impose more stringent regulations for awarding damages in infringement cases, based on the value of the patent infringement. It also would have made it easier for American inventors to secure patents overseas by bringing the US system in line with patent systems in Europe and Japan. The bill failed in the Senate, but a similar bill was proposed in the current Congress.

Learn more about US patent law from Cornell University's Legal Information Institute.