Business faces "fundamental change" in protecting inventions in the USA

From Saturday, March 16, organizations looking to protect their inventions in the USA will face significantly different requirements in the ways they apply to protect their products and services under US patent law. In particular, the US first-to-invent system will be replaced by the more widespread first-to-file system, comments a UK-based intellectual property specialist at law firm Marks & Clerk.

Under current US patent law, parties that can prove they invented a product or process first are granted patent protection over parties that cannot, regardless of which party first filed for protection with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The America Invents Act (AIA) will be replace this system with a first-to-file arrangement, meaning that, whichever party first files for protection (if all is in order) will obtain the patent, regardless of who first invented the product or process.

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