Thursday's tIP

Who can have too many helpful tips when it comes to intellectual property?!?Did you think to yourself, “no one!”??Good, because I am going to give you each a helpful intellectual property tip (a tIP if you will) each Thursday.?For my first tIP, I am focusing on a practice that can be implemented to protect inventors under the law of the America Invents Act (“AIA”).

It’s been over ten years since the AIA became law on September 16, 2011... I guess time flies when you’re having fun and helping inventors protect their intellectual property!?One of the key changes under the AIA, was making America a “first to file” country as opposed to a “first to invent country.” ?In other words, under the AIA, getting your patent application filed first generally gives you priority over third parties who may have had the same invention even if those third parties were the first to invent.?The AIA put America into alignment with the intellectual property laws of most other countries. ??

Under the AIA, if you have an invention that may be protectable by patent, getting an application timely filed with the U.S. Patent Office can be critical.?Further, the first to file rules make disclosing your invention to others prior to filing a patent application a riskier proposition than it was before.?If you or your business operates in a space generating potentially patentable subject matter, you would likely be well served to implement a regular audit process that asks what new developments are being worked on, who the key developers are, etc. ?How routinely the audits should be conducted varies from business to business. Keeping your patent attorney apprised of regular audit results can help identify patent applications that need prepared to get them filed promptly. ?Implementing an IP audit process does not have to be costly, and it could very well pay for itself by preventing the loss of valuable IP.? ?????

This tIP does not constitute legal advice nor does it create an attorney-client relationship.?If you have any questions about patent law, contact the lawyers at Standley Law Group LLP.?