Patents: Major Changes in the United States

2011-12-05

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PATENTS:MAJORCHANGESINTHEUNITEDSTATES

DOMINIQUEPOMERLEAU*
ROBIC,
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L
AWYERS,PATENTANDTRADE-MARKAGENTS

Aftermorethanadecadeoflegislativeefforts,BarackObamaratifiedanewlaw
entitledthe“AmericaInventsAct”onSeptember16,2011,profoundlymodifyingthe
Americanpatentsystem.Someofthemodificationstothesystemwillimpact
CanadianswhowishtoprotecttheirinventionsintheUnitedStates.

ChangesThatHaveTakenEffect
Patentfees,includingfeeswithrespecttofiling,issuance,renewalandextensionof
timewereincreasedby15%.
Inaddition,itisnowpossible,asinCanada,toacceleratetheexaminationprocedure
intheU.S.withouthavingtojustifytherequestandbypayingafeeofUSD4,800for
a“largeentity”orUSD2,400fora“smallentity”.

AsofSeptember16,2011,patenteesarenolongerrequiredtoidentifythepatent
numberonthearticleitselforonitspackaginginordertonotifythirdpartiesthatthe
productispatented.Instead,itisnowpossibletoidentifyanarticleasbeingpatented
byincludingtheterm“Patent”ortheabbreviation“Pat”ontheitemitselforonits
packagingandbyprovidingalinktoapubliclyaccessiblewebsitewherethe
applicablepatentsareidentified.Inaddition,theriskofbeingsuedforfalsemarking
intheUnitedStateshassignificantlydiminishedsinceaplaintiffmustnowprovethat
hehassufferedinjuryinordertoclaimdamages.
AlthoughtheU.S.PatentActhasalreadybeeninterpretedtoexcludethepossibility
ofpatentinghumanbeings,thenewlegislationrendersthisprohibitionexplicit.More
specifically,theissuanceofapatentincludingaclaimdirectedtoorencompassinga
humanorganismisprohibited.ThisisalsothecaseinCanada.

UpcomingChanges

©CIPS,2011.
*FromROBIC,LLP,multidisciplinaryfirmofLawyers,andPatentandTrade-markAgents.Published
intheSpring2011(Vol.15,no.3)Newsletterofthefirm.Publication068.142E.

AsofMarch16,2013,asinCanadaandinmostothe
rcountries,apatentinthe
UnitedStateswillbegrantedtothefirstinventorwhofilesapatentapplicationforan
invention(“firsttofile”),asopposedtothecurrentpracticeofgrantingthepatentto
thefirstinventor(“firsttoinvent”).Thisisthemostimportantchangeresultingfrom
thenewlaw.
Importantmodificationstothedefinitionofpriorartaswellastothedeterminationof
theeffectivefilingdatewerealsomadeinconjunctionwiththefirst-to-file
system.Priortothenewlaw,inventorshadoneyearfromthedateofthefirstpublic
disclosureoruseoftheinventionintheUnitedStatestofileapatentapplication.
Consequently,usesoroffersforsaleoftheinventionincountriesotherthantheU.S.
didnotconstitutepublicdisclosure.Thegraceperiodnowbeginswiththefirstpublic
disclosureoruseanywhereintheworld,renderingU.S.practicesimilartothatin
Canada.ItisalsoimportanttorememberthatEuropeaswellasmanyother
countriesenforcetheabsolutenoveltycriterion,whichistosaythatnopublic
disclosureorusemusttakeplacebeforefilingafirstpatentapplication.

Anewcategorycalled“micro-entity”willalsobeaddedtothealreadyexistingsmall
entitycategory.Thiscategorywillincludeverysmallcompaniesaswellas
universities,undercertainconditions.Applicantswhoqualifyasa“micro-entity”may
benefitfroma75%reductioninpatentfees.
Itisimportanttonotethatcompanyoruniversityemployeesmustbecontractually
obligatedtoassigntheirrightstotheirinventionsinorderforthecompanyor
universitytobenefitfromvariousprovisionsofthenewlaw,suchasthe“micro-entity”
statusoraprovisionrelatingtoinventiondisclosures,amongothers.

SimilartotheEuropeanpatentsystem,aninemonthpost-grantreviewperiodwillbe
institutedtoallowthirdpartiestochallengeU.S.patents.Thisamendmentwillbe
effectiveasofMarch16,2013.
IfawilfulinfringementisprovenintheUnitedStates,theCourtmayincrease
damagesbyuptothreetimestheamountoftheactualdamages.AsofSeptember
16,2012,thefactthataninfringerdidnotacquirealegalopinionmaynolongerbe
usedtodemonstratetheintentorwilltoincitetheinfringement.Thisisexcellentnews
forCanadiansdoingbusinessintheUnitedStates.

Note:Thepresentarticlesummarizesthemajorchangesimplementedbythe
“AmericaInventsAct”.Forfurtherinformation,ortoevaluatetheimpactofthese
changesonyourintellectualpropertystrategywithregardstopatents,weinviteyou
tocommunicatewithyourprimarycontactperson,orwiththeauthorofthisarticle,
whoisspecializedinIP.

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