This change doesn't eliminate prior art as it only applies to companies that haven't made a public disclosure. My understanding (and IANAL) is that if you make

This change doesn't eliminate prior art as it only applies to companies that haven't made a public disclosure. My understanding (and IANAL) is that if you make a public disclosure, you still have a "grace period" in which to file (and that your disclosure date has to come before the other company files). The real difference is that secret company documentation is no longer the determining factor if neither entity has publicly disclosed. I've kept rigorous engineering notebooks for almost thirty years so we could (if necessary) prove we were the first to invent. There are other benefits to the notebooks (and I'm too old and set in my ways to stop now).