Patent Application Filings Increase Dramatically

Inventors and attorneys rushed to file patent applications before March 16, 2013.  That date marked an important change in patent law, with applications filed before being subject to the old patent law, and applications filed after being subject to the new patent law as it has been substantially rewritten by the America Invents Act.  Dennis Crouch of Patently-O produced the below chart showing the drastic change in filings before the deadline.  The week before the changeover, about 6 times as many non-provisional applications were filed, and about 5 times as many provisional applications as is typical.  I’ve reproduced his chart here.