The Change to "First-to-File" Doesn’t Eliminate the Need for Protecting Electronic Record Authenticity
Just because the US patent law changed from "first-to-invent" to "first-inventor-to-file" doesn't mean you don't need to establish the authenticity of your critical research data. Now, more than ever, the need for proving your ownership and the authenticity of your digitally-based research records is paramount.
If a competitor, who stole your research, files for a patent BEFORE you do, can you prove YOUR records of invention are original?
The most effective means of ensuring admissible, credible, and authenticated business records is through the use of independent, digital timestamping. It is a data-level security control that enables organizations to unquestionably prove – independent of their people, processes and systems – that their electronic records existed at a specific point in time, have not been altered since, and are rightfully owned by the originating organization.
As your organization considers the impact of the America Invents Act on your patent portfolio, use this paper as a guide to several of the key changes, and where and how you should protect your organization’s valuable intellectual property with added data integrity protection.