In 1995, Congress changed the term of a patent to run twenty years from the earliest effective filing date of the patent application.  The newly enacted provisions of the American Inventors Protection Act (AIPA) attempt to protect inventors from delays caused by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

 Under the provisions of the AIPA, the USPTO must: (a) provide the first Office Action within fourteen months after an application is filed, (b) reply within four months to an amendment, appeal, or other response by an applicant, (c) act on an application within four months after an appeal is decided, (d) issue a patent within four months after the issue fee is received, and (e) issue a patent within three years after the application is filed.

 Additionally, applicants suffer no loss of patent term as a result of a successful appeal, imposition of an interference, or secrecy order. 

The AIPA sets off any patent term restoration to the extent the applicant “fails to engage in reasonable efforts to conclude prosecution.”  An applicant shall be deemed to have failed to engage in reasonable efforts to conclude prosecution or examination of an application for the cumulative total of any periods of time in excess of three months that are taken to respond to a notice from the USPTO making any rejection, objection, argument, or other request.   The three-month period is measured from the date the notice was given or mailed to the applicant.

The amount of time restored to a patent term will be determined by calculating how many days the USPTO has failed to meet its obligations (including secrecy order, interference, successful appeal time) and subtracting the number of days which the applicant unreasonably delay prosecution.