Official seal of the USPTO

A public forum will be hosted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office on the one year anniversary of the First Inventor To File provision.

First to file changed the law for inventors in the United States meaning that the first inventor to file for a patent will own the rights to the product, not the first to come up with the idea and prove it.

This measure makes it imperative that all inventors protect their product with some form of a patent before they begin any process of showing to individuals or companies. The forum will be held Monday, March 17, 2014, at the USPTO headquarters, Madison Auditorium, in Alexandria, Virginia from 12:30 to 5 pm ET.

Here is some information from the USPTO website:

“The forum is intended to bring stakeholders together with USPTO subject matter experts to discuss the FITF provisions.  It will begin with a thirty-minute informal meet-and-greet session, allowing participants to chat with the experts, followed by an informational program covering the following topics:”

.               Review of FITF filings made to date

.               Explanation of whether/when an application will be examined under

                 the FITF statutory framework

.               Overview of the FITF statutory framework and tips on responding to

                 prior art rejections

.               Tour of the AIA (FITF) website

.               Q&A panel discussion

If you or anyone you know has an invention idea and needs help protecting it, please contact us at New Product Consulting.