Maximizing Yield: Optimal Strategies for Obtaining and Enforcing Patent Rights in the Wake of the America Invents Act

Monday, April 30, 2012 | 8:00-8:50 a.m. PT | Long Beach, CA

The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act of 2011 (AIA), signed into law September 16, is the first significant overhaul of the U.S. patent system in nearly 60 years. It ushers in considerable changes in how companies and individuals obtain and enforce patents in the United States. Certain AIA patent reform measures have already been implemented, but the most significant are yet to come.

This presentation will provide an overview of the AIA’s impact on many important aspects of obtaining and enforcing patent rights,including the following:

• First-to-file versus first-to-invent
  
• Provisional patent applications versus utility patent applications
  
• Expansion in scope of potential prior art
  
• Due Diligence and Opinions of Counsel as aids to avoiding patent infringement
  
• Post-grant review process
  
• Expansion of prior user rights

Sponsored by: The American Oil Chemists’ Society (AOCS)

Register online at http://annualmeeting.aocs.org/program/content.cfm?ItemNumber=18080