CONTRIBUTED BY
Megan Muir

From our colleague Robert Benson in Los Angeles, here is a helpful summary of the recent patent law changes as a result of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (H.R. 1249) signed into law on Friday, September 16, 2011.  The biggest change – giving priority to the inventor “first-to-file” rather than the one who was “first-to-invent” – becomes effective 18 months from enactment, while a number of other changes kick in immediately.  For those of us accustomed to the prior U.S. system that focused on the first…
Continue Reading New Patent Law Enacted