BY Diana Ransom | September 16, 2011| Entrepreneur.com

No matter who you talk to, most people agree: The nation's age-old patent system needed an overhaul. But now that it's a done deal, new challenges are surfacing that may make it harder for entrepreneurs and small-scale inventors to get patents.

Bringing an end to a long history of bungled reform attempts, President Barack Obama today signed a sweeping reform bill into law that promises to change the system for determining priority for inventions at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Formally known as the America Invents Act, the law also aims to shore up more financing for an agency that's suffered through years-long applications backlogs and out-of-date computer systems.

"I think it's a positive move," says Gary Griswold, the former Chief Patent Intellectual Property Counsel for 3M and spokesman for the Coalition for 21st Century Patent Reform, a business lobby group based in Washington, D.C. "It provides for higher quality patents and a more rapidly performing Patent Office."

Many other organizations agree that the reforms will help reduce the time it takes to get a patent and tamp down on the number of frivolous patents. But many small-business owners and inventors remain largely unconvinced that the new law will carry any benefits for them.

"I can go to my garage and build a better mouse trap. That's the American dream I know of," says Bob Schmidt, the founder of Orbital Research, a small flight-controls maker in Cleveland. "I call this Act the ending of the American Dream Act because it will. It makes it impossible for small inventors to compete anymore."