On March 16, 2013 the provisions of the America Invents Act (AIA) have gone into effect pusuant to which the patent system changes from a "first-to-invent" system to a "first-to-file" system. Accordingly, the first inventor to file a US patent application will normally prevail over a second inventor who files a later US application, regardless of who invented first. The US patent system therefore will be more in line with the patent systems adopted in Europe.