Request for Comments on Virtual Marking, 34291 [2014-14044]
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Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 115 / Monday, June 16, 2014 / Notices
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
United States Patent and Trademark
Office
[Docket No. PTO–P–2014–0032]
Request for Comments on Virtual
Marking
United States Patent and
Trademark Office, Commerce.
ACTION: Request for comments.
AGENCY:
The United States Patent and
Trademark Office (USPTO) is seeking
public comment on virtual marking,
which was provided for by the LeahySmith America Invents Act (AIA) as an
alternative to physically marking
patented articles as a means to provide
notice to the public that such articles
are subject to patent protection.
The AIA requires that the Director of
the USPTO prepare, not later than three
years from the date of enactment of the
AIA, a report of: The effectiveness of
virtual marking as an alternative to the
physical marking of articles; whether
such virtual marking has limited or
improved the ability of the general
public to access information about
patents; and any legal issues or
deficiencies that arise from such virtual
marking.
DATES: To be assured of consideration,
written comments must be received on
or before July 16, 2014.
ADDRESSES: Written comments should
be sent by email to virtualmarking@
uspto.gov. Comments also may be
submitted by postal mail addressed to:
Mail Stop OPIA, United States Patent
and Trademark Office, P.O. Box 1450,
Alexandria, VA 22313–1450, ATTN:
Soma Saha. Although comments may be
submitted by postal mail, the USPTO
prefers to receive comments via email.
Comments will be made publicly
available after the comment period via
the USPTO Internet Web site (address:
https://www.uspto.gov). As such,
information that is not desired to be
made public, such as an address or
telephone number, should not be
included in the comments. The USPTO
does not intend to respond to individual
comments.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Soma Saha or Marina Lamm at the
Office of Policy and International
Affairs, by telephone at (571) 272–9300,
by email at virtualmarking@uspto.gov,
or by postal mail addressed to: Mail
Stop OPIA, United States Patent and
Trademark Office, P.O. Box 1450,
Alexandria, VA 22313–1450, ATTN:
Soma Saha.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: United
States patent law provides that marking
emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with NOTICES
SUMMARY:
VerDate Mar<15>2010
16:36 Jun 13, 2014
Jkt 232001
a product with a patent number gives
the public notice of a patent. Under 35
U.S.C. 287(a), if a patented product is
not marked with the patent number by
the patent owner, damages for
infringement will be limited to the time
period after the patent owner gives
actual notice to an alleged infringer.
Section 16 of the AIA provides a new
way to comply with the requirements
for patent marking by allowing
patentees to mark their products
virtually rather than physically. Instead
of printing the actual patent number on
the product, businesses can display the
term ‘‘patent’’ or ‘‘pat.’’ along with an
accompanying URL address of a Web
site where the actual patent number will
be located.
Section 16 of the AIA also requires
the Director of the USPTO to prepare a
report for Congress analyzing:
(A) The effectiveness of ‘‘virtual
marking’’ as an alternative to the
physical marking of articles;
(B) whether such virtual marking has
limited or improved the ability of the
general public to access information
about patents;
(C) the legal issues, if any, that arise
from such virtual marking; and
(D) the deficiencies, if any, of such
virtual marking.
The report is due to Congress not later
than three years after the date of
enactment of the AIA, which is
September 16, 2014.
Interested members of the public are
invited to submit written comments
they deem relevant to the abovementioned issues. The USPTO would
particularly welcome observations and
comments on any of the following
topics:
1. Experiences with creating and
maintaining adequate and effective
virtual marking Web sites;
2. effectiveness of virtual marking,
including experiences using virtual
marking Web sites to locate relevant
patent information;
3. challenges presented by virtual
marking in providing sufficient notice to
the public, including sufficiently
associating patent numbers with the
corresponding product within the
virtual marking Web site;
4. economic impacts of virtual
marking, including costs differences
between physical marking and virtual
marking;
5. advantages and disadvantages of
virtual marking in comparison with
physical marking;
6. identification of other practical or
legal concerns with virtual marking; and
7. any other issues or experiences
regarding virtual marking.
Commenters are requested to include
information identifying how they are
PO 00000
Frm 00018
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
34291
impacted by virtual marking, e.g.,
whether they are patent owners,
licensees, or any other type of user,
business, or manufacturer.
Dated: June 11, 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. 2014–14044 Filed 6–13–14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–16–P
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Office of the Secretary
Comprehensive Autism Care
Demonstration
Department of Defense.
Notice of a comprehensive
demonstration project for all Applied
Behavior Analysis (ABA), including the
tiered-model of ABA, for all TRICARE
beneficiaries with Autism Spectrum
Disorder (ASD).
AGENCY:
ACTION:
This notice is to advise
interested parties of a Military Health
System (MHS) demonstration project
entitled Comprehensive Autism Care
Demonstration (‘‘Autism Care
Demonstration’’). The purpose of the
Autism Care Demonstration is to further
analyze and evaluate the
appropriateness of the ABA tiereddelivery model under TRICARE in light
of current and anticipated Behavior
Analyst Certification Board (BCBA)
Guidelines. Currently, there are no
established uniform ABA coverage
standards in the United States.
Therefore, the demonstration seeks to
determine the appropriate provider
qualifications for the proper diagnosis of
ASD and the provision of ABA, assess
the feasibility and advisability of
establishing a beneficiary cost share for
the treatment of ASD, and develop more
efficient and appropriate means of
increasing access and delivering ABA
services under TRICARE while creating
a viable economic model and
maintaining administrative simplicity.
Faced with various temporary
authorities and the resulting complexity
of the current interim TRICARE policies
concerning coverage of ABA for ASD,
the Department will create a new
comprehensive Autism Care
Demonstration providing all TRICAREcovered ABA under one new
demonstration. This will encompass
ABA services that recently have been
provided under a patchwork of the
TRICARE Basic Program (i.e., the
medical benefits authorized under
SUMMARY:
E:\FR\FM\16JNN1.SGM
16JNN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 115 (Monday, June 16, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Page 34291]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-14044]
[[Page 34291]]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
United States Patent and Trademark Office
[Docket No. PTO-P-2014-0032]
Request for Comments on Virtual Marking
AGENCY: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Commerce.
ACTION: Request for comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is
seeking public comment on virtual marking, which was provided for by
the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) as an alternative to
physically marking patented articles as a means to provide notice to
the public that such articles are subject to patent protection.
The AIA requires that the Director of the USPTO prepare, not later
than three years from the date of enactment of the AIA, a report of:
The effectiveness of virtual marking as an alternative to the physical
marking of articles; whether such virtual marking has limited or
improved the ability of the general public to access information about
patents; and any legal issues or deficiencies that arise from such
virtual marking.
DATES: To be assured of consideration, written comments must be
received on or before July 16, 2014.
ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent by email to
virtualmarking@uspto.gov. Comments also may be submitted by postal mail
addressed to: Mail Stop OPIA, United States Patent and Trademark
Office, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450, ATTN: Soma Saha.
Although comments may be submitted by postal mail, the USPTO prefers to
receive comments via email.
Comments will be made publicly available after the comment period
via the USPTO Internet Web site (address: https://www.uspto.gov). As
such, information that is not desired to be made public, such as an
address or telephone number, should not be included in the comments.
The USPTO does not intend to respond to individual comments.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Soma Saha or Marina Lamm at the Office
of Policy and International Affairs, by telephone at (571) 272-9300, by
email at virtualmarking@uspto.gov, or by postal mail addressed to: Mail
Stop OPIA, United States Patent and Trademark Office, P.O. Box 1450,
Alexandria, VA 22313-1450, ATTN: Soma Saha.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: United States patent law provides that
marking a product with a patent number gives the public notice of a
patent. Under 35 U.S.C. 287(a), if a patented product is not marked
with the patent number by the patent owner, damages for infringement
will be limited to the time period after the patent owner gives actual
notice to an alleged infringer.
Section 16 of the AIA provides a new way to comply with the
requirements for patent marking by allowing patentees to mark their
products virtually rather than physically. Instead of printing the
actual patent number on the product, businesses can display the term
``patent'' or ``pat.'' along with an accompanying URL address of a Web
site where the actual patent number will be located.
Section 16 of the AIA also requires the Director of the USPTO to
prepare a report for Congress analyzing:
(A) The effectiveness of ``virtual marking'' as an alternative to
the physical marking of articles;
(B) whether such virtual marking has limited or improved the
ability of the general public to access information about patents;
(C) the legal issues, if any, that arise from such virtual marking;
and
(D) the deficiencies, if any, of such virtual marking.
The report is due to Congress not later than three years after the
date of enactment of the AIA, which is September 16, 2014.
Interested members of the public are invited to submit written
comments they deem relevant to the above-mentioned issues. The USPTO
would particularly welcome observations and comments on any of the
following topics:
1. Experiences with creating and maintaining adequate and effective
virtual marking Web sites;
2. effectiveness of virtual marking, including experiences using
virtual marking Web sites to locate relevant patent information;
3. challenges presented by virtual marking in providing sufficient
notice to the public, including sufficiently associating patent numbers
with the corresponding product within the virtual marking Web site;
4. economic impacts of virtual marking, including costs differences
between physical marking and virtual marking;
5. advantages and disadvantages of virtual marking in comparison
with physical marking;
6. identification of other practical or legal concerns with virtual
marking; and
7. any other issues or experiences regarding virtual marking.
Commenters are requested to include information identifying how
they are impacted by virtual marking, e.g., whether they are patent
owners, licensees, or any other type of user, business, or
manufacturer.
Dated: June 11, 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. 2014-14044 Filed 6-13-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-16-P
