Eighteen months after enactment of patent reform via the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, important new provisions of U.S. patent law will become effective on March 16, 2013. Inventors, their employers, and other owners of inventions should take at least two steps in preparation for the coming deadline.

First, all new inventions and improvements to existing inventions should be evaluated immediately so that any necessary patent applications can be filed by March 15, 2013, before the new provisions go into effect. This evaluation applies to any invention intended to be included in any type of patent application — regardless of whether the application is a new patent application having no claim to an earlier priority date, a provisional patent application, a continuation in-part patent application, or a formal or nonprovisional patent application that will contain new matter in addition to the information contained in its parent application

Please read full alert below for more information.