Leahy-Smith America Invents Act
Sponsor: LAMAR SMITH (R-TX)
Leahy-Smith America Invents Act - (Sec. 3) Amends federal patent law to define the "effective filing date" of a claimed invention as the actual filing date of the patent or the application for patent containing a claim to the invention (thus replacing the current "first to invent" system with a "first inventor to file" system), except as specified. Requires the effective filing date for a claimed invention in an application for reissue or reissued patent to be determined by deeming the claim to the invention to have been contained in the patent for which reissue was sought. Establishes a one-year grace period (a prior art exception) for inventors to file an application after certain disclosures of the claimed invention by the inventor or another who obtained the subject matter from the inventor.
Commerce Topic assigned by the Congressional Research Service.
Who won, and how much of the country was behind them
The dotted gap is 3.5% of U.S. adults whose member did not vote, voted “present,” or whose seat was vacant.
| Side | Outcome | Votes | Share of U.S. adults |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yea | Won | 89 | 84.0% |
| Nay | Lost | 9 | 12.5% |
| Not represented on this question | No position taken | 0 | 3.5% |