United States of America: "An Act to Correct and Improve Certain Provisions of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act and Title 35, United States Code"

January 14, 2013

United States of America: H.R. 6621, entitled "An Act to Correct and Improve Certain Provisions of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act and Title 35, United States Code" was passed by the United States Congress, signed into law by the President of the United States on January 14, 2013 and became Public Law No. 112-274. The Act makes a number of technical corrections to the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA), and other provisions of the Patent Act, title 35 of the United States Code.

This new law makes technical changes to the AIA. Among the key amendments are: the elimination of the nine-month "dead zone", during which certain patents were ineligible for post grant review ("PGR") or inter partes review ("IPR") (Section 1(d)); the extension of the deadline for an applicant to file an inventor’s oath or declaration until the date on which the issue fee for the patent is paid (Section 1(f)); the modification of requirements and time periods for activities relating to patent term adjustments ("PTA") such as the adjustment period for certain international applications (Section 1(h)); the repeal of Section 373 of title 35, United States Code, on improper applicants (Section 1(i)); and the clarification of the time period to institute derivation proceedings (Section 1(k)(1)).