This post was contributed by Erik Flom and Edward Manzo, intellectual property lawyers at Husch Blackwell.   

Companies having inventions to patent should seriously consider filing their patent applications at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on or before Friday, March 15th – the “Ides of March.” This is the final day that entirely new applications can be filed and still be treated under the current patent system. There are five, simple reasons why you might want to meet the deadline:

  1. An applicant under the current system is entitled to prove a date of “invention” that is earlier than the application filing date. The earlier the date of invention, the more likely it is that you will be able to overcome some prior art references or to win a priority contest against a later inventor who filed an earlier application.
  2. Because the definition of “prior art” changes under the America Invents Act, prior art that can be cited against patent applications with an effective filing date after March 15, 2013, generally expands in scope. Unless that prior art derives from the applicant, it cannot be overcome except in narrow circumstances. Often, such prior art is not known until it arises in patent litigation. If the patent has an effective filing date before March 16, 2013, then the patent owner can attempt to overcome some of the prior art on the basis of dates of invention.
    Continue Reading Only Four Weeks Left to Take Advantage of the Outgoing Patent System