Patent and Trademark Office September 11, 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (Office or USPTO) is revising the rules of practice to implement the provisions of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) that create a new derivation proceeding to be conducted before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (Board). These provisions of the AIA will take effect on March 16, 2013, eighteen months after the date of enactment, and apply to applications for patent, and any patent issuing thereon, that are subject to first-inventor-to-file provisions of the AIA.