The effective filing date of a claimed invention is a central concept relevant to several key provisions of the America Invents Act (AIA). It determines the universe of prior art available against a claim or application and also renders a claim or application eligible for the new first‑inventor-to-file provisions. The effective filing date is the earlier of (1) the filing date of a patent or patent application including a claim to the invention, or (2) the filing date of the earliest priority application (i.e., the earliest filed provisional, nonprovisional, international, or foreign application) to which a patent or patent application is entitled to a right of priority for the claimed invention. In general, this means a claim is entitled to the filing date of the earliest filed application supporting that claim.
