 However, the Uruguay Round Agreements Act of 1994 (URAA) changed the patent term in the United States to a total of 20 years, effective for patent applications filed on or after June 8, 1995, thus bringing United States patent law further into conformity with international patent law.The modern-day provisions of the law applied to inventions are laid out in Title 35 of the United States Code (Ch.950, sec.