Final Rule Revises U.S. Patent Practice to Conform to the Patent Law Treaty

On October 21, 2013, the USPTO published its Final Rule revising the agency’s rules of patent practice to conform to the Patent Law Treaty (PLT). The notable chances in the PLT pertain to: 1) the filing date requirements for a patent application; 2) the restoration of patent rights via the revival of abandoned applications and acceptance of delayed maintenance fee payments; 3) the restoration of the right of priority to a foreign application or the benefit of a provisional application filed within two months of the expiration of the twelve-month period (six months for design applications) for filing such a subsequent application; 4) reduction of patent term adjustment if an application is not in condition for examination within eight months of its filing date or date of commencement of national stage in an international application; 5) supplemental examination; 6) inventor’s oath or declaration; and 7) first inventor to file provisions under the AIA. Final Rule may be found here.