Notice of Public Hearings and Extension of Comment Period on the Proposed Changes To Require Identification of Attributable Owner, 9677-9678 [2014-03629]
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Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 34 / Thursday, February 20, 2014 / Proposed Rules
performs as intended under anticipated
conditions of use. Non-clinical
performance testing must characterize
the output waveform of the device and
demonstrate that the device meets
appropriate output performance
specifications. The output
characteristics and the methods used to
determine these characteristics,
including the following, must be
determined:
(A) Peak output power;
(B) pulse width;
(C) pulse frequency;
(D) duty cycle;
(E) characteristics of other types of
modulation that may be used;
(F) average measured output powered
into the RF antenna/applicator;
(G) specific absorption rates in saline
gel test load;
(H) characterization of the electrical
and magnetic fields in saline gel test
load for each RF antenna and prescribed
RF antenna orientation/position; and
(I) characterization of the deposited
energy density in saline gel test load.
(iv) Documented clinical performance
testing must demonstrate safe and
effective use of the device.
(v) Labeling must include a detailed
summary of the clinical testing
pertinent to the use of the device and a
summary of the adverse events and
complications.
Dated: February 13, 2014.
Leslie Kux,
Assistant Commissioner for Policy.
[FR Doc. 2014–03594 Filed 2–19–14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160–01–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
United States Patent and Trademark
Office
37 CFR Part 1
[Docket No.: PTO–P–2014–0004]
Notice of Public Hearings and
Extension of Comment Period on the
Proposed Changes To Require
Identification of Attributable Owner
United States Patent and
Trademark Office, Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of public hearings and
extension of comment period.
tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS
AGENCY:
The United States Patent and
Trademark Office (Office) published a
notice on January 24, 2014, proposing
changes to the rules of practice to
require that the attributable owner,
including the ultimate parent entity, be
identified during the pendency of a
patent application and at specified
SUMMARY:
VerDate Mar<15>2010
17:08 Feb 19, 2014
Jkt 232001
times during the life of a patent, and
seeking written comments on the
proposed changes. This initiative is one
of a number of executive actions issued
by the Administration that are designed
to ensure issuance of the highest-quality
patents, enhance competition by
providing the public with more
complete information about the
competitive environment in which
innovators operate, improve market
efficiency for patent rights by making
patent ownership information more
readily and easily available, reduce
abusive patent litigation by helping the
public defend itself against frivolous
litigation, and level the playing field for
innovators. The Office is conducting
two public hearings to discuss these
proposed changes. The public hearings
are an additional way for the Office to
introduce the proposed changes and
directly receive feedback from the
public. The Office also is extending the
period for public comment on the
proposed changes until April 24, 2014,
to provide interested members of the
public with additional time to submit
written comments.
DATES: Public Hearing Dates: The first
public hearing will take place on March
13, 2014, from 1 p.m. Eastern Daylight
Time (EDT) until 4 p.m. EDT, in
Alexandria, Virginia.
The second public hearing will take
place on March 26, 2014, from 9 a.m.
Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) until noon
PDT, in San Francisco, California.
Requests to Provide Oral Testimony:
Those wishing to provide oral testimony
at either public hearing must submit a
request to do so in writing no later than
February 28, 2014. Members of the
public who wish to attend solely to
observe need not submit a request to
attend.
Comment Deadline Date: To be
ensured of consideration, written
comments on the proposed changes to
the rules of practice to require
identification of the attributable owner
must be received on or before April 24,
2014.
ADDRESSES: Public Hearings: The first
public hearing will take place at:
Madison Auditorium North, Concourse
Level, United States Patent and
Trademark Office Headquarters, 600
Dulany Street, Alexandria, Virginia
22314.
The second public hearing will take
place at: the University of California
Hastings College of the Law, Louis B.
Mayer Lounge, 198 McAllister Street,
San Francisco, California 94102.
Requests to Provide Oral Testimony:
Requests to provide oral testimony at
either public hearing must be sent by
PO 00000
Frm 00035
Fmt 4702
Sfmt 4702
9677
electronic mail message over the
Internet addressed to:
aohearingrequest@uspto.gov.
Comments: Comments should be sent
by electronic mail message over the
Internet addressed to: AC90.comments@
uspto.gov. Comments also may be
submitted by postal mail addressed to:
Mail Stop Comments-Patents,
Commissioner for Patents, P.O. Box
1450, Alexandria, VA 22313–1450,
marked to the attention of James Engel,
Senior Legal Advisor, Office of Patent
Legal Administration, Office of the
Deputy Commissioner for Patent
Examination Policy.
Comments likewise may be sent by
electronic mail message over the
Internet via the Federal eRulemaking
Portal. See the Federal eRulemaking
Portal Web site (https://
www.regulations.gov) for additional
instructions on providing comments via
the Federal eRulemaking Portal.
Although comments may be
submitted by postal mail, the Office
prefers to receive comments by
electronic mail message over the
Internet because sharing comments with
the public is more easily accomplished.
Electronic comments in plain text are
preferred, but comments in ADOBE®
portable document format or
MICROSOFT WORD® format are also
acceptable. Comments not submitted
electronically should be submitted on
paper in a format that facilitates
convenient digital scanning into
ADOBE® portable document format.
Comments will be available for public
inspection at the Office of the
Commissioner for Patents, currently
located in Madison East, Tenth Floor,
600 Dulany Street, Alexandria, Virginia.
Comments also will be available for
viewing via the Office’s Internet Web
site (https://www.uspto.gov). Because
comments will be made available for
public inspection, information that the
submitter does not desire to make
public, such as an address or phone
number, should not be included in the
comments.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
James Engel, Senior Legal Advisor ((571)
272–7725), or Erin M. Harriman, Legal
Advisor ((571) 272–7747), Office of
Patent Legal Administration, Office of
the Deputy Commissioner for Patent
Examination Policy.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Office
recently published a notice of proposed
rulemaking proposing to require the
disclosure of ownership information
about patents and applications and
requesting comments about the
voluntary reporting of licensing offers
and commitments and making them
E:\FR\FM\20FEP1.SGM
20FEP1
tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS
9678
Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 34 / Thursday, February 20, 2014 / Proposed Rules
available online. See Changes to Require
Identification of Attributable Owner, 79
FR 4105 (Jan. 24, 2014). The Office is
conducting two public hearings to
discuss these proposed changes and
receive feedback from the public. The
Office also is extending the period for
public comment on the proposed
changes until April 24, 2014, to provide
interested members of the public with
additional time to submit written
comments.
Members of the public who wish to
provide oral testimony at either public
hearing must submit a timely request
(i.e., must submit a request to provide
oral testimony no later than February
28, 2014). Requests to provide oral
testimony at either public hearing must
indicate the following information: (1)
The name of the person desiring to
speak; (2) the person’s contact
information (telephone number and
electronic mail address); (3) the
organization(s) the person represents, if
any; and (4) the hearing location where
the person prefers to speak. A person
must be physically present at the
hearing location to provide oral
testimony; virtual testimony via
telephone or webcast is not available.
Based on the requests received, an
agenda of scheduled speakers will be
sent to those speaking and posted on the
Office’s Internet Web site at https://
www.uspto.gov. The number of speakers
and time allotted to each speaker may
be limited to ensure that all persons
speaking will have a meaningful chance
to do so.
Members of the public who wish to
attend solely to observe need not submit
a request to attend. The Office also
plans to make the public hearings
available via Web cast. Web cast
information will be available on the
Office’s Internet Web site closer to the
public hearing dates. A transcript of the
public hearings will be available for
viewing via the Office’s Internet Web
site at https://www.uspto.gov, and will be
available for public inspection at the
Office of the Commissioner for Patents,
currently located in Madison East,
Tenth Floor, 600 Dulany Street,
Alexandria, Virginia 22314, upon
request.
The public is welcome to submit
written comments in response to the
proposed changes in addition to, or lieu
of, presenting oral testimony at these
public hearings. The Office is extending
the period for public comment on the
proposed changes to provide interested
members of the public with additional
time to submit written comments.
Written comments in response to the
proposed changes must be received on
or before April 24, 2014.
VerDate Mar<15>2010
17:08 Feb 19, 2014
Jkt 232001
Under the proposed rulemaking, the
Office plans to collect information on
the ‘‘attributable owner’’ of a patent or
application, which includes the
titleholders, entities with rights to
enforce the patent, and entities with
effective control over anyone reported
in the first two categories, called the
‘‘ultimate parent entities.’’ This
information would be made available to
the public under the proposed
rulemaking at the same time a patent
application is published or when a
patent issues. The Office also seeks
public comment on whether to permit
patent applicants and owners to
voluntarily report licensing offers and
related information that the Office will
make available to the public. The Office
currently permits patent owners to
request that their patents be listed in the
Official Gazette as available for license
or sale, and the Office would like public
input on whether the Office should
expand on this program to allow for the
submission of more licensing
information and make this information
available in an accessible online format.
The Office welcomes comments on all
aspects of the proposed rulemaking, but
highlights the following areas (which
are also highlighted in the notice of
proposed rulemaking) for receipt of
public input:
(1) The proposal sets forth a definition
for attributable owner. The Office
invites public comment on whether
changes could be made to the scope of
the information proposed to be collected
while still achieving the objectives of
the Office as set forth in the proposal.
(2) Part of the current proposed
definition of attributable owner
incorporates by reference the definition
of ultimate parent entity set forth in 16
CFR 801.1(a)(3). The Office welcomes
comments on how this definition might
be modified for use at the Office. The
Office recognizes that corporations
sometimes transfer patents and patent
applications within the corporation for
legitimate reasons, such as tax savings
purposes, and also welcomes comments
on the impact of the proposed changes
on this practice.
(3) The proposal sets forth when
attributable owner information must be
supplied to the Office. The Office
invites public comments as to whether
and when attributable owner
information should be collected. For
example, are there additional times
during prosecution (e.g., with each reply
to an Office action) when the applicant
should be required to update or verify
attributable owner information? Is
requiring updates on changes during
prosecution within three months of any
change in attributable owner the
PO 00000
Frm 00036
Fmt 4702
Sfmt 4702
appropriate time frame (i.e., should the
time frame be more or less than three
months?).
(4) The Office plans to work with its
user community to implement the
attributable owner information reporting
system in a user-friendly manner and
welcomes input on how this can best be
accomplished. Subject to financial and
resource constraints, for example, the
Office would like to explore means to
allow for the bulk processing of changes
to attributable owner for portfolios of
applications and patents. The Office
also welcomes input on how the
updating or verifying by the applicant or
owner should be structured in
conjunction with the payment of
maintenance fees, particularly in light of
the practice of outsourcing payment of
maintenance fees to third parties.
(5) The Office further seeks comments
on whether the Office should expand
the current Official Gazette practice of
allowing patent owners to list patents as
available for license or sale to permit all
patent applicants and owners to
voluntarily report additional licensing
information for the Office to make
available to the public in an accessible
online format. The Office welcomes
input on what such licensing
information should include (i.e.,
willingness to license, as well as
licensing contacts, license offer terms,
commitments to license the patent, e.g.,
on royalty-free or reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms) and the interface
of the online system.
Dated: February 12, 2014.
Michelle K. Lee,
Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for
Intellectual Property and Deputy Director of
the United States Patent and Trademark
Office.
[FR Doc. 2014–03629 Filed 2–19–14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–16–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
United States Patent and Trademark
Office
37 CFR Parts 2 and 7
[Docket No. PTO–T–2013–0027]
RIN 0651–AC89
Changes in Requirements for
Collective Trademarks and Service
Marks, Collective Membership Marks,
and Certification Marks
United States Patent and
Trademark Office, Commerce.
ACTIONS: Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking.
AGENCY:
E:\FR\FM\20FEP1.SGM
20FEP1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 34 (Thursday, February 20, 2014)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 9677-9678]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-03629]
=======================================================================
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
United States Patent and Trademark Office
37 CFR Part 1
[Docket No.: PTO-P-2014-0004]
Notice of Public Hearings and Extension of Comment Period on the
Proposed Changes To Require Identification of Attributable Owner
AGENCY: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of public hearings and extension of comment period.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (Office)
published a notice on January 24, 2014, proposing changes to the rules
of practice to require that the attributable owner, including the
ultimate parent entity, be identified during the pendency of a patent
application and at specified times during the life of a patent, and
seeking written comments on the proposed changes. This initiative is
one of a number of executive actions issued by the Administration that
are designed to ensure issuance of the highest-quality patents, enhance
competition by providing the public with more complete information
about the competitive environment in which innovators operate, improve
market efficiency for patent rights by making patent ownership
information more readily and easily available, reduce abusive patent
litigation by helping the public defend itself against frivolous
litigation, and level the playing field for innovators. The Office is
conducting two public hearings to discuss these proposed changes. The
public hearings are an additional way for the Office to introduce the
proposed changes and directly receive feedback from the public. The
Office also is extending the period for public comment on the proposed
changes until April 24, 2014, to provide interested members of the
public with additional time to submit written comments.
DATES: Public Hearing Dates: The first public hearing will take place
on March 13, 2014, from 1 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) until 4 p.m.
EDT, in Alexandria, Virginia.
The second public hearing will take place on March 26, 2014, from 9
a.m. Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) until noon PDT, in San Francisco,
California.
Requests to Provide Oral Testimony: Those wishing to provide oral
testimony at either public hearing must submit a request to do so in
writing no later than February 28, 2014. Members of the public who wish
to attend solely to observe need not submit a request to attend.
Comment Deadline Date: To be ensured of consideration, written
comments on the proposed changes to the rules of practice to require
identification of the attributable owner must be received on or before
April 24, 2014.
ADDRESSES: Public Hearings: The first public hearing will take place
at: Madison Auditorium North, Concourse Level, United States Patent and
Trademark Office Headquarters, 600 Dulany Street, Alexandria, Virginia
22314.
The second public hearing will take place at: the University of
California Hastings College of the Law, Louis B. Mayer Lounge, 198
McAllister Street, San Francisco, California 94102.
Requests to Provide Oral Testimony: Requests to provide oral
testimony at either public hearing must be sent by electronic mail
message over the Internet addressed to: aohearingrequest@uspto.gov.
Comments: Comments should be sent by electronic mail message over
the Internet addressed to: AC90.comments@uspto.gov. Comments also may
be submitted by postal mail addressed to: Mail Stop Comments-Patents,
Commissioner for Patents, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450,
marked to the attention of James Engel, Senior Legal Advisor, Office of
Patent Legal Administration, Office of the Deputy Commissioner for
Patent Examination Policy.
Comments likewise may be sent by electronic mail message over the
Internet via the Federal eRulemaking Portal. See the Federal
eRulemaking Portal Web site (https://www.regulations.gov) for additional
instructions on providing comments via the Federal eRulemaking Portal.
Although comments may be submitted by postal mail, the Office
prefers to receive comments by electronic mail message over the
Internet because sharing comments with the public is more easily
accomplished. Electronic comments in plain text are preferred, but
comments in ADOBE[supreg] portable document format or MICROSOFT
WORD[supreg] format are also acceptable. Comments not submitted
electronically should be submitted on paper in a format that
facilitates convenient digital scanning into ADOBE[supreg] portable
document format.
Comments will be available for public inspection at the Office of
the Commissioner for Patents, currently located in Madison East, Tenth
Floor, 600 Dulany Street, Alexandria, Virginia. Comments also will be
available for viewing via the Office's Internet Web site (https://www.uspto.gov). Because comments will be made available for public
inspection, information that the submitter does not desire to make
public, such as an address or phone number, should not be included in
the comments.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James Engel, Senior Legal Advisor
((571) 272-7725), or Erin M. Harriman, Legal Advisor ((571) 272-7747),
Office of Patent Legal Administration, Office of the Deputy
Commissioner for Patent Examination Policy.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Office recently published a notice of
proposed rulemaking proposing to require the disclosure of ownership
information about patents and applications and requesting comments
about the voluntary reporting of licensing offers and commitments and
making them
[[Page 9678]]
available online. See Changes to Require Identification of Attributable
Owner, 79 FR 4105 (Jan. 24, 2014). The Office is conducting two public
hearings to discuss these proposed changes and receive feedback from
the public. The Office also is extending the period for public comment
on the proposed changes until April 24, 2014, to provide interested
members of the public with additional time to submit written comments.
Members of the public who wish to provide oral testimony at either
public hearing must submit a timely request (i.e., must submit a
request to provide oral testimony no later than February 28, 2014).
Requests to provide oral testimony at either public hearing must
indicate the following information: (1) The name of the person desiring
to speak; (2) the person's contact information (telephone number and
electronic mail address); (3) the organization(s) the person
represents, if any; and (4) the hearing location where the person
prefers to speak. A person must be physically present at the hearing
location to provide oral testimony; virtual testimony via telephone or
webcast is not available. Based on the requests received, an agenda of
scheduled speakers will be sent to those speaking and posted on the
Office's Internet Web site at https://www.uspto.gov. The number of
speakers and time allotted to each speaker may be limited to ensure
that all persons speaking will have a meaningful chance to do so.
Members of the public who wish to attend solely to observe need not
submit a request to attend. The Office also plans to make the public
hearings available via Web cast. Web cast information will be available
on the Office's Internet Web site closer to the public hearing dates. A
transcript of the public hearings will be available for viewing via the
Office's Internet Web site at https://www.uspto.gov, and will be
available for public inspection at the Office of the Commissioner for
Patents, currently located in Madison East, Tenth Floor, 600 Dulany
Street, Alexandria, Virginia 22314, upon request.
The public is welcome to submit written comments in response to the
proposed changes in addition to, or lieu of, presenting oral testimony
at these public hearings. The Office is extending the period for public
comment on the proposed changes to provide interested members of the
public with additional time to submit written comments. Written
comments in response to the proposed changes must be received on or
before April 24, 2014.
Under the proposed rulemaking, the Office plans to collect
information on the ``attributable owner'' of a patent or application,
which includes the titleholders, entities with rights to enforce the
patent, and entities with effective control over anyone reported in the
first two categories, called the ``ultimate parent entities.'' This
information would be made available to the public under the proposed
rulemaking at the same time a patent application is published or when a
patent issues. The Office also seeks public comment on whether to
permit patent applicants and owners to voluntarily report licensing
offers and related information that the Office will make available to
the public. The Office currently permits patent owners to request that
their patents be listed in the Official Gazette as available for
license or sale, and the Office would like public input on whether the
Office should expand on this program to allow for the submission of
more licensing information and make this information available in an
accessible online format.
The Office welcomes comments on all aspects of the proposed
rulemaking, but highlights the following areas (which are also
highlighted in the notice of proposed rulemaking) for receipt of public
input:
(1) The proposal sets forth a definition for attributable owner.
The Office invites public comment on whether changes could be made to
the scope of the information proposed to be collected while still
achieving the objectives of the Office as set forth in the proposal.
(2) Part of the current proposed definition of attributable owner
incorporates by reference the definition of ultimate parent entity set
forth in 16 CFR 801.1(a)(3). The Office welcomes comments on how this
definition might be modified for use at the Office. The Office
recognizes that corporations sometimes transfer patents and patent
applications within the corporation for legitimate reasons, such as tax
savings purposes, and also welcomes comments on the impact of the
proposed changes on this practice.
(3) The proposal sets forth when attributable owner information
must be supplied to the Office. The Office invites public comments as
to whether and when attributable owner information should be collected.
For example, are there additional times during prosecution (e.g., with
each reply to an Office action) when the applicant should be required
to update or verify attributable owner information? Is requiring
updates on changes during prosecution within three months of any change
in attributable owner the appropriate time frame (i.e., should the time
frame be more or less than three months?).
(4) The Office plans to work with its user community to implement
the attributable owner information reporting system in a user-friendly
manner and welcomes input on how this can best be accomplished. Subject
to financial and resource constraints, for example, the Office would
like to explore means to allow for the bulk processing of changes to
attributable owner for portfolios of applications and patents. The
Office also welcomes input on how the updating or verifying by the
applicant or owner should be structured in conjunction with the payment
of maintenance fees, particularly in light of the practice of
outsourcing payment of maintenance fees to third parties.
(5) The Office further seeks comments on whether the Office should
expand the current Official Gazette practice of allowing patent owners
to list patents as available for license or sale to permit all patent
applicants and owners to voluntarily report additional licensing
information for the Office to make available to the public in an
accessible online format. The Office welcomes input on what such
licensing information should include (i.e., willingness to license, as
well as licensing contacts, license offer terms, commitments to license
the patent, e.g., on royalty-free or reasonable and non-discriminatory
terms) and the interface of the online system.
Dated: February 12, 2014.
Michelle K. Lee,
Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Deputy
Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. 2014-03629 Filed 2-19-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-16-P
