Blog # 17: Patent filings increase substantially this month

http://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2013/03/pre-aia-filing-numbers.html

Patent filings tripled in March compared to January and February. In January, there were a total of ~20,000 non-provisional applications and ~12,000 provisional applications. February saw similar numbers. However,  in March, ~60,000 non-provisional applications and ~33,000 provisional applications were filed. In the week ending on March 15^th, ~34,000 non-provisional applications and  ~24,000 provisional applications were filed.

What is the reason for the huge surge in patent filings? March 15^th marks the last day patent applications could be filed under the old first-to-invent regime. New applications filed afterwards will be judged under the first-to-file regime of the American Invents Act (AIA).  

After reading this article, I decided to look into the difference between the two forms of filing.

First-to-invent: When an inventor conceives of an invention and diligently reduces the invention to practice (by filing a patent application, by practicing the invention, etc.), the inventor's date of invention will be the date of conception.

First-to-file:  In a first-to-file system, the right to the grant of a patent for a given invention lies with the first person to file a patent application for protection of that invention, regardless of the date of actual invention.

It is interesting that people are rushing to file under the first to invent method. I wonder if those individuals prefer the old method because they prefer the mechanism, or they have an invention that is competing for the first to invent not first to file (competing against other patent filers). Either way, it seems like there are some steady job opportunities for patent lawyers these coming months.