Patent Reform Expected to Become Law

On September 8, Congress passed the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act. President Obama is expected to sign the bill into law. Harmonizing many aspects of U.S. patent law with the patent laws of most foreign jurisdictions, the bill constitutes a major modification to the Patent Act of 1952 and is expected to have sweeping effects on patent procurement and enforcement. It moves the U.S. from the current first-to-invent system to a first-inventor-to-file (FITF) system and makes a number of other significant changes to the patent law.

McGuireWoods addresses key areas of the bill that relate to patent procurement and post-grant patent challenges or patent litigation in "Patent Reform Expected to Become Law." Topics include:

• First-Inventor-To-File
• Derivation Proceedings
• Patent-Ineligible Inventions
• Pre-Grant Prior Art Submission
• Post-Grant Review
• Transitional Business Method Review Process
• Heightened Inter Partes Reexamination Standard
• Inter Partes Review
• Prior User Defense
• No qui tam False Marking Suits
• Best Mode
• Joinder of Accused Infringers