New Patent Legislation Signed by President Obama - All Patent Problems Immediately Cured.
Snarky titles aside, President Obama today signed into law the America Invents Act. 
This bill passed the Senate by a vote of 95 to 5, so given the political climate in Washington today, you almost have to assume that it doesn't do much, but that might be unfair. Some of its features include:
- Changes the definitive date from the first to invent to the first to file. This is designed to eliminate controversy and the necessity of a court to review a lot of evidence to determine who has prior rights. It also puts the U.S. into conformance with most of the rest of the world on this issue. It also creates a race to the USPTO and may favor large companies with money and staff over inventors with less resources.
- Allowing the USPTO to set its fees and keep most of the fees itself in contrast to having them siphoned off to fund other agencies as in the past. This supposedly will help clear up a backlog of approximately 1 million applications.
- Giving rights to third parties to challenge a patent within 9 months after its issuance. It also limits patent rights for tax systems and financial products or systems.
Large companies like IBM touted the legislation but others weren't so impressed.
A full text of the bill can be found here. Problems solved.
