How does the America Invents Act (AIA) affect the examination of reissue applications?
The America Invents Act (AIA) introduced changes to the determination of prior art for patent applications. For reissue applications, the effect depends on the effective filing date of the claims. The MPEP 1440 explains:
“The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) revised 35 U.S.C. 102 and thereby, the standard to determine what prior art is available during examination of an application.”
If a reissue application contains claims with an effective filing date on or after March 16, 2013, it will be subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103. Otherwise, pre-AIA laws apply. In some cases, a reissue application may be subject to different prior art than the original application.
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