Three years on: what the new definition of prior art means today
On March 16, 2016, it will have been three years since the definition of prior art changed under the America Invents Act (AIA). Under the AIA, every application filed on or after March 16, 2013 is examined under a new standard for anticipation, unless the application has an effective filing date before this date. In essence, the passage of the AIA converted US patent law from a ‘first-to-invent’ to a ‘first-to-file’ system, thereby harmonising the US patent system with the rest of the world.
