Factbox: U.S. patent reform: many changes proposed

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The patent reform bill discussed by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday is 99 pages long and proposes many changes to the U.S. patent system.

Some of the proposals are:

* Judges would be required to take an active gatekeeper role in deciding how important the patent in a lawsuit is to the entire product and use that to determine damages.

* Patent lawsuits can be transferred to a different court if the alternate venue is "more convenient."

* Patents would be given to the "first inventor to file" instead of the "first to invent," making the U.S. patent system like most in the world.

* Anyone who has reasons for rejection of a patent application would be able to give evidence to patent examiners.

* Within nine months of a patent's approval, a patent could be challenged at the patent office with no limits on the type of evidence that could be used in the challenge.

* Holders of patents may give information to the patent office to make any necessary corrections.

* Companies that inaccurately mark a product as patented can only be sued if the company or person who sues suffered a "competitive injury" because of false marking. "False marking" lawsuits rose in 2010 after a court ruling led to higher damages for marking a product as patented when it was not or the patent had expired.

* Strategies to reduce or avoid tax liabilities would not be patented.

* The director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office would be allowed to set fees.

* Small entities would be charged 50 percent less and micro-entities 75 percent less than the normal patent fee.