Patent Reform Bill Clears Congress, Heads to Obama for Signing

The U.S. Senate on Thursday passed legislation to overhaul federal patent laws, overcoming some last-minute objections from Republicans to send the bill to President Obama, who is expected to sign it. The measure, which has strong support from many higher education groups, is designed to align the U.S. patent system more closely with patent systems in other major countries, and it would alter the law so a patent for an innovation would be granted to the first inventor to file an application for it, rather than to the creator of the innovation.