The America Invents Act: Filing Consequences Distilled

Ahhh...The American Invents Act, or AIA, as most patent professionals refer to it, is the piece of newer legislation that controls how/when/where, etc. patents are now filed, along with a bunch of other miscellaneous actions directed at the patent office. So what is the AIA and what does it mean to American inventors? Let's start from the beginning. The patent laws generally don't change dramatically from year to year. You will usually see slight changes and shifts; however, the AIA has a few sweeping changes, one of which I am going to break down for you in this blog post.

One of the most important changes that the AIA brings in is the first to file provision. Historically, the U.S. has always been a first to invent nation. This means that if you invented something first--and have proof of this--then you won priority, or the right to a patent, even if someone else claimed to have invented the same thing as you. Now, though, you win the priority race if you FILE for a patent application FIRST, regardless of whether you can prove you invented first. So what does this really mean? Several patent law scholars have said that this is good for big companies and bad for small-time garage inventors because big companies have more money to file applications. We will have to wait to see whether this creates a big impact on small-time inventors because the first to file provision didn't go into effect until March 16, 2013.

So there you have it, the AIA change to first to file vs. first to invent. Most countries around the world are first to file, so the U.S. is now aligning with the rest of the universe with respect to filing and priority. What do you think about this? Good? Bad? Email me your thoughts at mmulaw@outlook.com.