An article to be released by the Santa Clara Computer and High Technology Law Journal in print and online in Spring 2014 will discuss the benefits of international inventors filing their first patent application with the USPTO. The publication will reference multiple online eCommerce options including Cislo & Thomas’ own PatentFiler.com.
On March 16, 2013, the United States implemented the “Leahy-Smith America Invents Act” (“AIA”). Implementation of the Act substantially enhances the value of U.S provisional and non-provisional patent applications (“PPAs” and “NPAs,” respectively) to foreign applicants. In this recently accepted publication, the authors endeavor to outline the procedural and strategic considerations facing foreign applicants for PPAs by offering a survey of protective foreign patent application law, followed by an analysis of the modern benefits of PPA filing in the post-AIA world. Without a doubt, the traditional benefits to foreign filers of PPAs encompassing term extension, cost-efficiency and secrecy have been amplified by enactment of a first-to-file priority system in the United States.