What the First-to-File Patent Change Means (And What IP Strategists Should Do About It)
The Corporate Law Report: First-to-File Patents, Hiring for Cultural Fit, Roth Conversions Post-Fiscal Cliff, and Global Corporate Insights
Today, technology companies are conceptualizing new ideas and improving upon those ideas at a blistering pace. Previously, under the United States’ first-to-invent patent system, such companies could afford to wait until new...more
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced earlier today that U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker has appointed Deputy Commissioner for Patent Examination Policy Drew Hirshfeld to be the new Commissioner for Patents...more
Last week, on September 2, 2014, Accord Healthcare, Inc. ("Accord") filed what appears to be the second-ever Post-Grant Review ("PGR") (see Petition). This PGR was for U.S. Patent No. 8,598,219 ("the '219 Patent"), which is...more
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced that it will host seven roadshow events across the country to increase public understanding of the First Inventor to File (FITF) provisions of the America Invents Act. The...more
On September 16, 2013–the second anniversary of the America Invents Act (AIA)–the USPTO will host a forum on the AIA at its Alexandria, Virginia campus. The USPTO AIA forum will provide an overview of AIA implementation to...more
On March 16, the most significant provisions of the America Invents Act (AIA) came into force. The AIA was seen as the most extensive alteration to patent law in half a century, and was hotly debated over nearly a decade. The...more
Sure, First-to-File is new here, but the rest of the world has been dealing with it forever and the sky has not fallen on technological innovation elsewhere. And it won’t fall on it here either under a First-to-File system....more
In This Issue: - AMERICA INVENTS ACT FINAL IMPLEMENTATION: FROM FIRST-TO-INVENT TO FIRST-TO-FILE: The America Invents Act (“AIA”), which went into effect September 16, 2011, introduces some of the most...more
Now that the first-inventor-to-file provisions of the America Invents Act (AIA) have taken effect, stakeholders should understand how to preserve the first-to-invent status of patent applications that were filed before March...more
In a press release issued earlier today, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced that examination guidelines and the final rule for implementing the first-inventor-to-file (FITF) provisions of the Leahy-Smith America...more
On March 16, 2013, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is changing from a First-to-Invent system to a First-Inventor-to-File system under the America Invents Act for all patent applications that have a priority date...more
The final phase of the America Invents Act (AIA) takes effect on March 16, 2013. This means that any patent application filed in the U.S. on or after that date, which, at any time during its pendency, contains a claim that is...more
On 16 March 2013, the first-inventor-to-file provisions of the America Invents Act (AIA) will become effective. The new legal climate will pose additional challenges to obtaining a US patent that demand strategic choices both...more
In a last-minute decision for the 112th Congress, the House of Representatives approved an America Invents Act (AIA) technical-revisions bill as amended by the Senate (H.R. 6621) on January 1, 2013. President Obama is...more
On Saturday, March 16, 2013, the “first-inventor-to-file” provisions of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (“AIA”) go into effect. These provisions replace the current “first-to-invent” system. In addition to various other...more
Many commentators call the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) the biggest reform of the United States patent laws in almost 60 years. The AIA’s most publicized and dramatic change transforms the first-to-invent system to a...more