In particular, the paragraph starting with "Although some of the provisions of AIA 35 U.S.C. 102(a) and (b) are similar to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102(a), (b), and (e), the AIA has introduced a number of important changes with respect to prior art ..."
Edit: And more importantly, Section 2152.01 right below it.
Ah, you’re right. The critical date for a patent is now the date of filing rather than the date of invention. Apologies for jumping the gun—I misread your comment as suggesting that first to file somehow changed how you calculate the date as of which a non-patent disclosure (such as an article) is prior art.
No worries. It is rather the date that you compare it to that changed (filing rather than invention). I could have expressed that more clearly.
It actually does change the dates for when patent documents are considered prior art (as described in the first paragraph I referenced), so it is easy to get the issues confused.
The effects of first to file on how prior art works are, in my opinion, way more important than the litigation edge condition it eliminated.
