WHY INTERNATIONAL INVENTORS MIGHT WANT TO CONSIDER FILING THEIR FIRST PATENT APPLICATION AT THE UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE & THE CONVERGENCE OF PATENT HARMONIZATION AND ECOMMERCE

On Mar 16, 2013, the US implemented the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA). Enactment of the AIA substantially enhances the value of the US provisional and non-provisional patent applications (PPA and NPA) to foreign applicants. In this paper, the authors endeavor to outline the procedural and strategic considerations facing foreign applicants for PPAs by offering a brief survey of protective foreign patent application law, followed by an analysis of the modern benefits of PPA filing in the post-AIA world. The analysis suggests that the traditional benefits to foreign filers of PPAs encompassing term extension, cost-efficiency and secrecy have been amplified by the establishment of a first-to-file priority system in the US.