Earliest Benefit Date (EBD)

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Overview

From the Federal Register - “The EBD is a term used to refer to the earliest filing date for which benefit is claimed under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) and § 1.78(d). The EBD is determined on an application-by-application basis. The EBD cannot be the filing date of a foreign application or the filing date of a provisional application to which benefit is claimed under 35 U.S.C. 119(e). When the later-filed application is a utility or plant patent application, the EBD is also the date from which the 20-year patent term is calculated under 35 U.S.C. 154(a)(2). The EBD is also known as the patent term filing date.”

The Matters module has a field called “Earliest Benefit Date” (EBD) associated with US patent filings. AppColl automatically calculates the value in this field, it cannot be updated manually. This field can be used to help calculate fees for US divisional, continuation and continuation in part filings. Hovering over the information icon next to the EBD shows the related matter that determined the date.

 

EBD Calculation

AppColl automatically calculates the EBD using one of two methods, determined by a selection in the Matter's tab in the Settings page (only available to Account Administrators). In either case, AppColl only uses filing dates to determine the EBD from matters that meet the following criteria:

  • The filing country is US or WO (PCT)
  • It is not a provisional application
  • It is a utility, plant or design type application

 

If the checkbox is selected, AppColl will determine the EBD by selecting the earliest filling date of any matter in the list of connections in the matter details page:

If the checkbox is not selected, AppColl will determine the EBD by selecting the earliest filling date of any matter in the continuity chain (as shown by the icon):

AppColl automatically recalculates the EBD of a matter whenever one of the following events occurs:

  • The matter is opened for editing.
  • Changes are made to the connections in any one of the matter's related matters.
  • The filing date of a matter in the matter's continuity chain is changed.

 

EBD Task Types

AppColl has two standard task types that trigger whenever the EBD changes for certain US matters as reminders of the important dates associated with a matter's EBD:

  • File Continuing Application within 6 years from Earliest Benefit Date
  • File Continuing Application within 9 years from Earliest Benefit Date

 

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