The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act represents the most significant change in the patent law since 1836. The AIA was enacted into law on September 16, 2011. The objectives of the AIA are to grant patents in the United States with greater speed, quality and certainty, and for the USPTO to reach patentability decisions faster.
As of the first anniversary of the AIA on September 16, several new final rules went into effect for inventor’s oath/declaration, pre-issuance submission, patent owner claim scope statements, ex parte re-examination estoppel, supplemental examination and administrative patent trials (including post-grant review, inter partes review and covered-business-method review). Derivation proceedings, first-inventor-to-file and post-grant review will commence on March 16, 2013. Proposed rules have been issued for fees and first-inventor-to-file, as well as proposed examination guidelines.
