Inventors and Patent Attorneys: Beware the Ides of March

Beginning March 16, a major change in U.S. patent law takes effect that moves the United States from a “first-to-invent” system to a “first-inventor-to-file” system. Erika Arner, chair of Finnegan’s patent prosecution practice said, “It’s a big paradigm shift and there’s a ‘Race to the Patent Office’ mentality going with it.” The switch is part of the 2011 America Invents Act which includes a provision that adjusts filing standards such that “a patent will be awarded to the first inventor to file, regardless of whether someone else came up with the invention first.” Arner noted that in the wake of these new laws, “Companies will have to put more pressure on their inventors to file sooner,” adding, “They have to understand that the invention date is no longer part of the application—that it no longer matters.”