Historic Patent Reform Implemented by U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

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On September 17, 2012, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) implemented seven provisions of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act of 2011 (AIA).

The new rules are intended to spur innovation and economic growth by streamlining the patent application process and introducing new procedures to ensure patent quality. Other provisions of the AIA will go into effect on March 16, 2013, including the shift to a first-inventor-to-file system. Read the USPTO press release here.

Other provisions of the AIA will go into effect on March 16, 2013, including the shift to a first-inventor-to-file system. USPTO announced a new, user-friendly, web-based search tool to make its patent and trademark examining manuals more accessible to the public.

Also, this week, the USPTO and the European Patent Office (EPO) announced the formal launch of the Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) system, a global classification system for patent documents.

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