human: Are all applications filed on or after March 16, 2013 subject to the first-inventor-to-file provisions in the AIA? (Question: FITF2104)
assistant: No, the first-inventor-to-file provisions in the AIA apply only to patent applications that contain or contained at any time: (1) a claim to a claimed invention that has an effective filing date as defined in 35 U.S.C. 100(i) that is on or after March 16, 2012; or (2) a designation as a continuation, divisional, or continuation-in-part of an application that contains or contained at any time a claim to a claimed invention with an effective filng date on or after March 16, 2013.
Neither filing a request for continued examination, nor entering the national stage under 35 U.S.C. 371, consitutes filing a new application. Accordingly, even if a request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114 is filed after March 16, 2013, in an application that was filed before March 16, 2013, the application remains subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103, regardless of whether the application enters the national stage under 35 U.S.C. 371 before or after March 16, 2013.
Additionally, if some of the claims of an application have an effective filng date before March 16, 2013, and other claims have an effective filing date on or after March 16, 2013, then the application will be subject to the first-inventor-to-file provisions. The first-inventor-to-file provisions apply to an applicatoin that contains, or ever contained, a claim to an invention having an effective filing date on or after March 16, 2013.