Leahy–Smith America Invents Act

The Leahy–Smith America Invents Act (AIA) is a United States federal statute that was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama on September 16, 2011. The law represents the most significant legislative change to the U.S. patent system since the Patent Act of 1952 and closely resembles previously proposed legislation in the Senate in its previous session (Patent Reform Act of 2009).

Leahy–Smith America Invents Act
Long titleTo amend title 35, United States Code, to provide for patent reform.
Acronyms (colloquial)AIA
NicknamesPatent Reform
Enacted bythe 112th United States Congress
EffectiveSeptember 16, 2012
Citations
Public law112–29
Statutes at Large125 Stat. 284 through 125 Stat. 341 (57 pages)
Legislative history
  • Introduced in the Senate as "America Invents Act" (S. 23) by Patrick Leahy (D–VT) on January 25, 2011
  • Committee consideration by Judiciary Committee
  • Passed the Senate on March 8, 2011 (95–5)
  • Passed the House on June 23, 2011 (304-117) with amendment
  • Senate agreed to House amendment on September 8, 2011 (89-9)
  • Signed into law by President Barack Obama on September 16, 2011
United States patent law
Legislation
Types of patent claims
Procedures
Other topics
  • United States Patent and Trademark Office
  • Patent Trial and Appeal Board
  • Exhaustion
  • Infringement
  • Misuse
  • Term of patent
  • Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP)
  • History
  • Biological patents
  • Software patents
  • List of patent law cases

Named for its lead sponsors, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), the Act switches the U.S. patent system from a "first to invent" to a "first inventor to file" system, eliminates interference proceedings, and develops post-grant opposition. Its central provisions went into effect on September 16, 2012 and on March 16, 2013.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.