human: Does this change in the law mean that the 35 U.S.C. 371(c)(1), (2) and (4) date is "no longer a US filing date?"
assistant: The date the requirements of 35 U.S.C. 371(c)(1), (2) and (4) were fulfilled ( e.g. , the 371(c) date) is not, and never was, a US filing date even prior to the AIPA revision to 35 U.S.C. 102(e). Prior to the amendments to 35 U.S.C. 102(e) by the American Inventors Protections Act of 1999 (AIPA), 35 U.S.C. 102(e) (e.g., pre-AIPA 102(e)) simply equated the 371(c) fulfillment date to a US filing date for prior art purposes. Although the USPTO uses the 371(c) date like a US filing date for processing purposes (and even indicates the 371(c) date as the US filing date on the official filing receipt), legally the 371(c) date was never considered to be a US filing date. The national stage application continues to be considered filed on the international filing date for all purposes except as provided in 37 U.S.C. 102(e). See the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP) 8th Edition (August 2001), section 1893.03(b).