Leahy-Smith America Invents Act
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| Long title | To amend title 35, United States Code, to provide for patent reform. |
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| Acronyms (colloquial) | AIA |
| Nicknames | Patent Reform |
| Enacted by | the 112th United States Congress |
| Effective | September 16, 2012 |
| Citations | |
| Public law | 112–29 |
| Statutes at Large | 125 Stat. 284 through 125 Stat. 341 (57 pages) |
| Legislative history | |
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The Leahy–Smith America Invents Act (AIA) is a United States federal statute that was passed by Congress and was signed into law by President Barack Obama on September 16, 2011. The law represents the most significant change to the U.S. patent system since 1952, and closely resembles previously proposed legislation in the Senate in its previous session (Patent Reform Act of 2009).
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.
The law switched the U.S. rights to a patent from the previous "first-to-invent" system to a "first inventor-to-file" system for patent applications filed on or after March 16, 2013. The law also expanded the definition of prior art used in determining patentability. Actions and prior art that bar patentability under the Act include public use, sales, publications, and other disclosures available to the public anywhere in the world as of the filing date, other than publications by the inventor within one year of filing (inventor's "publication-conditioned grace period"), whether or not a third party also files a patent application. The law also notably expanded prior art to include foreign offers for sale and public uses. Applicants that do not publish their inventions prior to filing receive no grace period.
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