The first to file was already the rule, at least in France, and in Europe too I guess. The US just closed a loop hole. An inventor hiding it's invention could invalidate a patent of a third party who may have invested to use it for business purpose.
In France, a prior inventor, who of course didn't disclose his invention otherwise it invalidates the patent, has still the right to freely use the invention without having to pay a license. But he can't license it and I think also make business out of it.
A really unfair difference between US and Europe's Patent rules is that in Europe the Patent protection starts at the time of deposit, thus prior it's valdation. In the US it starts when the patent is validated.
Thus the time between deposit and validation is an implicit patent lifetime extension which can be as long as 10 years for some patents ! Such long delays exist because it is in the interest of the inventor to delay the validation as much as possible. The pending patent also allows to license a potentially invalid patent or dissuade competitors to invest in the field because the pending patent is like a time bomb.
This is a really bad rule of the US patent system.
In France, a prior inventor, who of course didn't disclose his invention otherwise it invalidates the patent, has still the right to freely use the invention without having to pay a license. But he can't license it and I think also make business out of it.
A really unfair difference between US and Europe's Patent rules is that in Europe the Patent protection starts at the time of deposit, thus prior it's valdation. In the US it starts when the patent is validated.
Thus the time between deposit and validation is an implicit patent lifetime extension which can be as long as 10 years for some patents ! Such long delays exist because it is in the interest of the inventor to delay the validation as much as possible. The pending patent also allows to license a potentially invalid patent or dissuade competitors to invest in the field because the pending patent is like a time bomb.
This is a really bad rule of the US patent system.