37 CFR § 1.109 - Effective filing date of a claimed invention under the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act.
---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t37/s1.109"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "37 CFR § 1.109 - Effective filing date of a claimed invention under the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act."
title_number: 37
title_name: "Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights"
section_number: "1.109"
section_name: "Effective filing date of a claimed invention under the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act."
chapter_name: "UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE"
subchapter_number: "A"
subchapter_name: "GENERAL"
part_number: "1"
part_name: "RULES OF PRACTICE IN PATENT CASES"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-03-24"
last_updated: "2026-03-24"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
authority: "35 U.S.C. 2(b)(2), unless otherwise noted."
regulatory_source: "24 FR 10332, Dec. 22, 1959, unless otherwise noted."
cfr_part: "1"
---
# 1.109 Effective filing date of a claimed invention under the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act.
(a) The effective filing date for a claimed invention in a patent or application for patent, other than in a reissue application or reissued patent, is the earliest of:
(1) The actual filing date of the patent or the application for the patent containing a claim to the invention; or
(2) The filing date of the earliest application for which the patent or application is entitled, as to such invention, to a right of priority or the benefit of an earlier filing date under 35 U.S.C. 119, 120, 121, 365, or 386.
(b) The effective filing date for a claimed invention in a reissue application or a reissued patent is determined by deeming the claim to the invention to have been contained in the patent for which reissue was sought.
[80 FR 17963, Apr. 2, 2015]