November 26, 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is considering promulgating regulations that would require greater public transparency concerning the ownership of patent applications and patents by requiring the provision of real-party-in-interest information during patent prosecution and at certain times post- issuance. As part of this initiative, the USPTO is conducting a roundtable to obtain public input from organizations and individuals on how the USPTO could change its rules of practice to collect and provide such ownership information and make it publicly available. The USPTO plans to invite a number of roundtable participants from among patent user groups, practitioners, industry, independent inventor organizations, academia, and government. The roundtable also is open for any member of the public to provide input.

EPA is withdrawing its March 8, 2010 final action approving State Implementation Plan (SIP) revisions submitted by California to provide for attainment of the 1-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) in the San Joaquin Valley extreme ozone nonattainment area. In addition, EPA is withdrawing its March 1, 2012 determination that the California SIP satisfies the requirement regarding offsetting emissions growth caused by growth in vehicle miles traveled (VMT) under the Clean Air Act (CAA) for the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS in the San Joaquin Valley. Finally, EPA is finding that California has failed to submit required SIP revisions to provide for attainment of the 1-hour ozone NAAQS and to address the VMT emissions offset requirement for the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS in the San Joaquin Valley. Under the CAA, these findings of failure to submit trigger the 18-month time clock for mandatory imposition of sanctions and the two-year time clock for EPA to promulgate federal implementation plans.

We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all Airbus Model A318, A319, A320, and A321 series airplanes. This AD was prompted by reports of the escape slide of the raft inflation system not deploying when activated due to the rotation of the cable guide in a direction which resulted in jamming of the inflation control cable. This AD requires modifying the affected slide rafts. We are issuing this AD to prevent non-deployment of the inflation system of the escape slide raft, which could result in delayed evacuation from the airplane during an emergency, and consequent injury to the passengers.

NMFS is amending the 2006 Consolidated Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Fishery Management Plan based on several shark stock assessments that were completed from 2009 to 2012. The assessments for Atlantic blacknose, dusky, and scalloped hammerhead sharks indicated that these species are overfished and experiencing overfishing. The assessment for sandbar sharks indicated that this species is overfished, but not experiencing overfishing. The assessment for Gulf of Mexico blacktip sharks, adopted in this rulemaking, indicated that the stock is not overfished and not experiencing overfishing. The assessment for Gulf of Mexico blacknose sharks was not accepted; therefore, the overfished and overfishing statuses have been determined to be unknown. The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) requires the Agency to implement management measures that prevent overfishing and rebuild overfished stocks, as necessary. Based on the new stock assessments, and after considering public comments received during scoping and on a predraft document, we are proposing measures that would reduce fishing mortality and effort in order to rebuild overfished Atlantic shark species while ensuring that a limited sustainable shark fishery can be maintained consistent with our legal obligations. The proposed measures include changes to commercial quotas and species groups, the creation of several time/area closures, a change to an existing time/area closure, an increase in the recreational minimum size restrictions, and the establishment of recreational reporting for certain species of sharks. The proposed measures could affect U.S. commercial or recreational fishermen who harvest sharks within the Atlantic Ocean, including the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea.

We are superseding an existing airworthiness directive (AD) for certain The Boeing Company Model 737-600, -700, -700C, -800, and - 900 series airplanes. That AD currently requires replacing the drain tube assemblies and support clamps on the aft fairing of the engine struts. This new AD requires replacing the drain tube assembly of the left and right engine strut aft fairings with a new one, which includes an integral support clamp made of nickel alloy 625. This AD also adds airplanes to the applicability. This AD was prompted by a report of a broken drain tube assembly on the left engine strut at the clamp support location under the aft fairing compartment, inside the heat shield cavity of the aft fairing. There have also been reports of tube wear at this clamp location on additional airplanes. We are issuing this AD to prevent failure of the drain tube assemblies and clamps on the aft fairings of the engine struts. Such failure could allow leaked flammable fluids in the drain systems to discharge onto the heat shields of the aft fairings of the engine struts, which could result in an undetected and uncontrollable fire.

We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all The Boeing Company Model 747-100, 747-100B, 747-100B SUD, 747-200B, 747- 200C, 747-200F, 747-300, 747-400, 747-400D, 747-400F, 747SR, and 747SP series airplanes. This AD was prompted by reports of cracks in the main entry door number 1 upper main sill outer chord, along the bend radius of the chord on several airplanes. This AD requires a general visual inspection to identify any existing structural repair manual (SRM) repairs of the upper main sill outer chord of the left and right side main entry door number 1, repetitive detailed inspections for cracks in the upper main sill of the door(s); and related investigative and corrective actions, if necessary. This AD also requires repetitive inspections for airplanes on which a certain repair is done, and corrective actions if necessary, and reduces certain compliance times. We are issuing this AD to detect and correct cracks in the main entry door number 1 upper main sill outer chord, along the bend radius of the chord, which could result in loss of structural integrity of the airplane.