I've long believed the US patent system to be broken, allowing "patent portfolio" companies to file for the simplest and most inane things and then sit on them while others actually innovate in a space.

That said, I don't know if I'm behind the switch from first-to-invent to first-to-file. Could that cause an even bigger problem of people rushing to patent every little thing before someone else steals it out from under them?

Lets hope the section on improving patent quality includes stricter checks for prior art and limits frivolous claims.

Maybe it should be "first to actully do anything with it"?

Nah. Problems with that too. Mainly, they need better oversight of the existing rule that a patent must be "non-obvious". We keep getting companies patenting things that are the natural obvious application of a different technology. (Amazon.com's "One Click" is a good example of that.. .they patented the concept of having a cookie that identifies who you are.... but that's what cookies _do_.)

Wow, I've been hearing this for quite some time now.

That's not the crux of the problem. The U.S. is one of the last holdouts of the 'first to invent' doctrine. Other countries use the 'first to file' doctrine. The problem occurs when Corp. X steals property from Joe Inventor and files the patent apps first and then commercializes the invention. Joe Inventor finds out about his invention being stolen and proceeds to sue the pants off of Corp X.
All Joe Inventor needs is his witnessed inventors log admitted as evidence in a court of law and if his entries pre-date that of Corp X they lose. Now whomever scurries off to the patent office first, wins regardless of who invented it first. Us real inventors know these things because we see it all the time.

I agree with TRNapster. If you have the documentation to verify that you indeed were the First to create or invent, then this should be the winning factor. It shouldn't be who files first! I personally wouldn't be rushing to file for a patent if I was busy doing the actual inventing and testing of a new product.

Also, we are a nation filled with law suites! Everyone jumps to sue over any little thing, and this is costing us millions in court costs and time spend on nonsense. Why not Common Sense?