Obama's Day Ahead: The America Invents Act

President Obama will wrap up his week by heading to a Northern Virginia high school to sign the American Invents Act. The bill, which was passed last Thursday night, is the first significant change in patent law since 1952. According to our friends at CNN Money:

At the core of both bills is a transition of the U.S. patent law from a ‘first to invent’ to a ‘first to file’ system. That would give the patent to the first applicant, rather than the first inventor. It's the standard most of the rest of the world uses, since it prevents inventors from coming out of the woodwork and laying claim to a patent. The bills also have provisions that attempt to keep patent battles out of the courts, and they allow the U.S. Patent and Trade Office to set and potentially keep its own fees. Currently, Congress sets and collects the fees, and allocates a set amount of funding to the office - which says it is woefully under-funded.

The president will travel to Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia – a magnet school ranked the #1 “Gold Medal School” in the nation by US News and World Report. It draws its 1800-member student body from Fairfax County and other counties in Northern Virginia, and the school specializes in…well…science and technology.  While there President Obama will visit a classroom and see science and technology students’ projects. He’ll then make remarks at 11:10 AM.

There is no on-camera press briefing today.

Here’s the full schedule:

9:45AM THE PRESIDENT receives the Presidential Daily Briefing – Oval Office

10:45AM THE PRESIDENT visits a classroom at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology

11:10AM THE PRESIDENT delivers remarks and signs the America Invents Act into Law at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology