Definition
Priority Date
The official filing date of a patent application, which determines which inventor has superior rights when two parties claim the same invention. Under the America Invents Act (2011), the United States switched from a first-to-invent system to a first-to-file system: the first person to file a patent application wins priority, regardless of who actually invented the idea first. This makes the priority date the single most important protective action an inventor can take before disclosing an idea publicly. A provisional patent filing establishes priority date immediately, even before a full application is complete.
From the episode “How Do I Protect My Idea?”Hear it on the podcast1 episode
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