On Mar. 16, 2013, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) implemented the first inventor to file (FITF) provision of the America Invents Act that transitioned the U.S. to a first-inventor-to-file system from a first-to-invent system and became effective. The provision introduced changes to 35 U.S.C. § 102 that impact patent prosecution directly.

The FITF provision includes a 1-year grace period. Specifically, prior art disclosures made publicly available one year or less before the effective filing date can be overcome by applicant showing (1) the prior art disclosure was by another who obtained the disclosed subject matter from the applicant (a deriver), see 102(b)(1)(A), or (2) the applicant or a deriver publicly disclosed the subject matter before the date of the prior art disclosure, see 102(b)(1)(B).