On February 14, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) released its final rules and guidelines implementing the first-inventor-to-file provision of the AIA, available for download here.

The AIA switches the U.S. patent system from a “first-to-invent” to a “first-inventor-to-file” system, eliminates interference proceedings and develops post-grant opposition – all of which represent the most significant change to the U.S. patent system since 1952.  Earlier this month, Vedder Price’s Intellectual Property group analyzed those changes, in a bulletin titled “Top Ten Changes Under the America Invents Act.”

Due to the scope of AIA-related changes, experts, courts, inventors and corporations alike will surely wrestle for years with the mechanics of the implementation, set to begin on March 16, 2013.