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ARTICLE · 14 NOVEMBER 2011

Effective Timeline For The America Invents Act

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The America Invents Act ("Act") was enacted into law on September 16, 2011 and provides sweeping changes to the US patent law.

United StatesIntellectual Property
Robert Kovelman
Robert Kovelman
Doug Peterson
Doug Peterson

The America Invents Act ("Act") was enacted into law on September 16, 2011 and provides sweeping changes to the US patent law.  Since its enactment, many questions have been posed regarding the different effective dates of individual provisions within the Act.  In an effort to address these questions, we have summarized many of the key provisions within the Act and the corresponding effective dates below. 

September 16, 2011:

Sec. 5 - Defense to infringement based on prior commercial use

  • Prior commercial use defense is expanded to affiliates and the defense is expanded to all technology areas.
  • Applies to any patent issued on or after September 16, 2011.

Sec. 6 – Threshold transition for Inter Partes reexaminations

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