America Invents Act Student Resources

Traditionally, the USPTO has lagged behind in updating the material it tests on its registration examination (more commonly known as the “patent bar exam”). This does not seem to be the case when it comes to testing material recently enacted by the America Invents Act. On January 31, 2012, the Office began testing two topics, prioritized examination and inter partes reexamination threshold, that became effective on September 16, 2011, and one topic, ex parte patent appeals, that became effective on January 23, 2012. Information on these three topics was published in the Federal Register and can be found below. The Office has not released any other study materials on these topics.

The USPTO has also updated the content on the patent bar exam to incorporate the provisions of the America Invents Act that took effect on September 16, 2012. These provisions include inter partes and post-grant review, preissuance submissions by third parties, supplemental examination, the transitional program for covered business method patents, revisions to the inventor’s oath or declaration, and additions to the material that can be cited in patent applications. Information on these topics was published in the Federal Register and can be found below. With inter partes review replacing inter partes reexamination, it is expected that the patent bar exam will no longer test inter partes reexamination.

Once all of the provisions of the America Invents Act become effective on March 16, 2013, the Office is expected to test not only the new provisions and practices established by the America Invents Act (first-inventor-to-file), but also the old provisions and practices (first-to-invent) because those will still be in effect on applications filed before March 16. The testing of both systems is expected to increase the amount of material on the patent bar exam by at least fifty percent. Study materials for current rules and practices can be found below, while information on requirements to sit and how to register for the exam are to the left.