According to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(1)(A), public disclosures done one year or less before the effective filing date don't matter:
AIA 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(1)(A) provides exceptions to the prior art provisions of AIA 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1). These exceptions limit the use of an inventor's own work as prior art, when the inventor's own work has been publicly disclosed by the inventor, a joint inventor, or another who obtained the subject matter directly or indirectly from the inventor or joint inventor not more than one year before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. AIA 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(1)(A) provides that a disclosure which would otherwise qualify as prior art under AIA 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) is not prior art if the disclosure was made: (1) One year or less before the effective filing date of the claimed invention; and (2) by the inventor or a joint inventor, or by another who obtained the subject matter directly or indirectly from the inventor or joint inventor. MPEP § 2153.01(a) discusses issues pertaining to inventor-originated disclosures within the grace period. MPEP § 2152.01 discusses the “effective filing date” of a claimed invention.
Does the time in the day of a public disclosure matter when submitting a patent application to the USPTO?
I.e., if a public disclosure was done at 1 PM PT on September 15, 2022, do I have until September 14, 2023 11:59:59 PM PT, September 15, 2023 1 PM PT or September 15, 2023 11:59:59 PM PT to submit the patent or the provisional patent to the USPTO?
