Patent Protection

John Halan, a Brooks Kushman litigation attorney, discusses procedures that companies should adopt to protect their intellectual property under soon-to-be, or recently, effective provisions of the America Invents Act.

Patent Protection

Businesses that fail to heed new provisions of the America Invents Act run the risk of losing their ideas to others.

The America Invents Act represents the most significant reform of the United States patent system in 60 years. Signed into law in the fall of 2011, a number of provisions impacting Michigan and the nation have recently, or will soon, become effective. Given Michigan`s intellectual resources and the fact that the state is one of the top five filers of patent applications nationwide, it is important that businesses and industries be prepared to address the new provisions. The most notable reform to the act will become effective on March 16 when the United States will join the rest of the world in switching from a first-to-invent system to a first to-file system. Instead of awarding patents to the first who conceived an invention, patents will now be awarded to the first to file a patent application.

Read the entire article in dbusiness Magazine written by John Halan

Original Publication: DBusiness Magazine, 2013