s, which would change the current practice whereby all filings are confidential until the patent is granted. Changing to a first-to-file standard, many experts believe, will eliminate challenges and reduce the documentation required to prove who invented something first. In the past, small inventors did not have the financial resources to accept these battles, and now will gain by not having to fight them.
The agreement will serve all nations doing business in the United States: "Only 45 percent of all the U. S. patents filed for or granted in the U. S. in 1993 went to U.
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