New Act Correcting The America Invents Act

On January 14, 2013, President Obama signed H.R. 6621 into law. The new "technical corrections" Act was enacted "[t]o correct and improve certain provisions of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act ['AIA'] and title 35, United States Code." The new Act not only corrects several minor errors, but also includes a few important changes to the AIA and other provisions of the Patent Act. This update discusses several of those important changes, including provisions that impact the timing of the new inter partes proceedings and modify aspects of patent term adjustment ("PTA").

The new Act did not include two provisions from the original bill. First, a provision that would have curbed the term of pending pre-GATT patent applications was deleted. Second, the new Act did not repeal 35 U.S.C. § 325(f), which bars post-grant reviews ("PGRs") for claims in a reissue patent that are identical to or narrower than a claim in the original patent if the PGR request is filed greater