Streamlined, Expedited Patent Appeal Pilot for Small Entities, 55339-55341 [2015-23090]
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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 178 / Tuesday, September 15, 2015 / Notices
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Herring Committee will provide
recommendations and the Council will
take final action on the fishery’s 2016–
18 specifications. These will include an
overfishing level (OFL) and acceptable
biological catch (ABC) based on
Scientific and Statistical Committee
advice, quotas for each of the four
Atlantic herring management areas as
well as monthly quota allocations,
research set-asides, and annual gear/
area-specific catch caps for river herring
and shad. The day will conclude with
the Council’s Observer Committee
report. This group will ask for approval
of a Draft Environmental Assessment
and draft omnibus amendment that
would establish provisions for industryfunded monitoring (IFM) across all
federally-managed fisheries in the
Greater Atlantic region and address
monitoring requirements on Atlantic
herring vessels. Additionally, the
discussion will include consideration of
Observer Committee and Herring
Committee recommendations regarding
the inclusion of any additional
management measures in the action, the
selection of preferred alternatives, and
approval of the Draft Omnibus IFM
Amendment for public comment.
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Wednesday’s session will begin with
the receipt of recommendations from
the Council’s Scientific and Statistical
Committee on a Georges Bank yellowtail
flounder OFL and ABC for fishing years
2016–17; and an ABC recommendation
for the species in the Northeast skate
complex for fishing years 2016–18.
Next, a summary of the 2015
Transboundary Resources Assessment
Committee’s recent stock assessments
for Eastern Georges Bank cod, Eastern
Georges Bank haddock, and Georges
Bank yellowtail flounder will be
presented. This will be followed by a
discussion of and a decision on the
Transboundary Management Guidance
Committee’s (TMGC) recommendations
for the 2016 quotas for these same
stocks. The Council may also discuss
other TMGC issues. The Council’s
Groundfish Committee report will
follow and will contain a number of
elements: (1) Final Council action on
Amendment 18 to the Northeast
Multispecies Fishery Management Plan
(FMP), which focuses on accumulation
limits and fleet diversity; (2) an update
on the development of Framework
Adjustment 55 to the Northeast
Multispecies (Groundfish) Plan, which
would set specifications for all
groundfish stocks for fishing years
2016–18, and include the quotas for the
three U.S./Canada stocks mentioned
above for 2016 only; and (3) relative to
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Framework 55, consider including a
proposal to establish a new sector in the
groundfish fishery and possible changes
that might streamline the current at-sea
monitoring program.
Stevens Act, provided that the public
has been notified of the Council’s intent
to take final action to address the
emergency.
Thursday, October 1, 2015
The final meeting day will begin with
a briefing by Dr. Jason Link of NOAA
Fisheries on the agency’s EcosystemBased Fisheries Management Strategy.
The Council’s Habitat Committee will
discuss the possibility of initiating a
framework adjustment that would allow
hydraulic clam dredging in some
portions of the Great South Channel and
the Georges Shoal Habitat Management
Areas approved by the Council in
Omnibus EFH Amendment 2 and
review the status of and new
information associated with the
development of an Omnibus Deep-Sea
Coral Amendment. A discussion of
management priorities for 2016 will
occur just prior to a lunch break.
After the break, the Scallop
Committee will ask the Council to
identify preferred alternatives in
Amendment 19 to the Sea Scallop FMP.
The action is intended to expedite the
implementation date of the sea scallop
fishery specifications each year. An
update on the development of fishing
year 2016 specifications and default
measures for fishing year 2017 is also
scheduled. The Council will spend the
remainder of the day on its Small Mesh
Multispecies Program and the Northeast
skate complex. During the Small Mesh
Program agenda item the Council will:
(1) Receive a summary of the annual
monitoring report for the three species
in this group, red, silver, and offshore
hake, all of which are managed via the
Groundfish Plan; (2) consider an interim
adjustment to the fishery specifications
for red hake; and (3) review and approve
a draft scoping document for
Amendment 22 to the Groundfish Plan,
which would address limited access in
this fishery. During the skate discussion,
the Council will receive an update on
the status of the seven skate species in
the complex and recent catches. A
decision may also be made about
initiating a framework adjustment that
would allow the Skate Committee to
take the lead in developing
specifications for fishing years 2016–17.
Although other non-emergency issues
not contained in this agenda may come
before this Council for discussion, those
issues may not be the subject of formal
action during this meeting. Council
action will be restricted to those issues
specifically listed in this notice and any
issues arising after publication of this
notice that require emergency action
under section 305(c) of the Magnuson-
This meeting is physically accessible
to people with disabilities. Requests for
sign language interpretation or other
auxiliary aids should be directed to
Thomas A. Nies (see ADDRESSES) at least
5 days prior to the meeting date.
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Special Accommodations
Dated: September 10, 2015.
Tracey L. Thompson,
Acting Deputy Director, Office of Sustainable
Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2015–23107 Filed 9–14–15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–22–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Patent and Trademark Office
[Docket No.: PTO–P–2015–0062]
Streamlined, Expedited Patent Appeal
Pilot for Small Entities
United States Patent and
Trademark Office, Commerce.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
The United States Patent and
Trademark Office (USPTO) has a
procedure under which an application
will be advanced out of turn (accorded
special status) for examination if the
applicant files a petition to make special
with the appropriate showing. The
USPTO is providing a temporary basis
(the Streamlined, Expedited Patent
Appeal Pilot for Small Entities) under
which a small or micro entity appellant
may have an ex parte appeal to the
Patent Trial and Appeal Board (Board)
accorded special status if the appellant
has only a single appeal pending before
the Board and the appellant agrees to
streamline the appeal. Specifically, the
appeal must not involve any claim
subject to a rejection for lack of written
description, enablement, or best mode,
or for indefiniteness, and the appellant
must agree to the disposition of all
claims subject to each ground of
rejection as a single group and waive
any request for an oral hearing. The
Streamlined, Expedited Patent Appeal
Pilot for Small Entities will allow small
or micro entity appellants who
streamline their appeals to have greater
control over the priority with which
their appeals are decided.
DATES: Effective Date: September 18,
2015.
Duration: The Streamlined, Expedited
Patent Appeal Pilot for Small Entities is
being adopted on a temporary basis and
SUMMARY:
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55340
Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 178 / Tuesday, September 15, 2015 / Notices
will run until two thousand (2,000)
appeals have been accorded special
status under the pilot, or until
September 16, 2016, whichever occurs
earlier. The USPTO may extend the
Streamlined, Expedited Patent Appeal
Pilot for Small Entities (with or without
modification) on either a temporary or
permanent basis, or may discontinue
this pilot after September 16, 2016,
depending upon the results.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Steven Bartlett, Patent Trial and Appeal
Board, by telephone at 571–272–9797,
or by electronic mail message at
expeditedpatentappealspilot@uspto.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Appeals to
the Board are normally taken up for
decision by the Board in the order in
which they are docketed. The USPTO
has a preexisting procedure under
which an application will be advanced
out of turn (accorded special status) if
the applicant files a petition to make
special with the appropriate showing.
See 37 CFR 1.102 and MPEP section
708.02. The USPTO recently adopted
the Expedited Patent Appeal Pilot,
under which an appellant may have an
ex parte appeal to the Board in an
application accorded special status if
the appellant withdraws the appeal in
another application or ex parte
reexamination with an ex parte appeal
also pending before the Board. See
Expedited Patent Appeal Pilot, 80 FR
34145 (June 15, 2015). The USPTO is
now adopting, on a temporary basis, the
Streamlined, Expedited Patent Appeal
Pilot for Small Entities, under which a
small or micro entity appellant may
have an ex parte appeal to the Board
accorded special status if the appellant
has only a single appeal pending before
the Board as of September 18, 2015 and
the appellant agrees to streamline the
appeal. The Streamlined, Expedited
Patent Appeal Pilot for Small Entities
will permit small or micro entity
appellants to accelerate the Board
decision on an appeal, possibly
hastening the pace at which the
invention is patented and brought to the
marketplace, and thus spurring followon innovation, economic growth, and
job creation. The streamlining of
appeals under this pilot also will assist
the Board to more efficiently reduce the
overall inventory of pending appeals.
The USPTO will accord special status
to an appeal pending before the Board
under the Streamlined, Expedited
Patent Appeal Pilot for Small Entities
under the following conditions:
(1) A certification and petition under
37 CFR 41.3 must be filed by the
USPTO’s electronic filing system (EFSWeb) in the application involved in the
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ex parte appeal for which special status
is sought (‘‘appeal to be made special’’),
identifying that application and appeal
by application and appeal number,
respectively. In addition, the appeal to
be made special must be the appellant’s
only appeal pending before the Board as
of September 18, 2015, and the appeal
to be made special must have been
docketed with the PTAB on or before
September 18, 2015.
(2) The appellant must certify that the
appellant has established status as a
small entity or micro entity in the
application underlying the appeal to be
made special and also must certify that
status as a small entity or micro entity
is still appropriate. See 37 CFR 1.27 and
1.28 concerning small entity status and
see 37 CFR 1.29 concerning micro entity
status.
(3) The appellant must agree that, for
each ground of rejection applying to two
or more claims, the PTAB may select a
single claim from the claims subject to
each ground of rejection and decide the
appeal to be made special with respect
to every claim subject to that ground of
rejection on the basis of the selected
claim alone. See 37 CFR 41.37(c)(1)(iv)
concerning the treatment of claims
subject to the same ground of rejection
argued together as a group.
(4) The appellant must certify that the
appeal to be made special does not
involve any claim subject to a rejection
under 35 U.S.C. 112. If an appeal made
special under the Streamlined,
Expedited Patent Appeal Pilot for Small
Entities is found to involve one or more
claims subject to a rejection under 35
U.S.C. 112, the appeal normally will be
removed from the pilot at the discretion
of the Board.
(5) The appellant must agree to waive
any oral hearing in the appeal to be
made special, and acknowledge that any
oral hearing fees paid in connection
with the appeal to be made special will
not be refunded.
(6) The petition under 37 CFR 41.3
must be signed by a registered
practitioner who has a power of attorney
under 37 CFR 1.32, or has authority to
act under 37 CFR 1.34, for the
application involved in the appeal to be
made special.
The USPTO has created a formfillable Portable Document Format
(PDF) ‘‘Petition to Make Special—the
Streamlined, Expedited Patent Appeal
Pilot for Small Entities’’ (Form PTO/SB/
441) for use in filing a certification and
petition under 37 CFR 41.3 under the
Streamlined, Expedited Patent Appeal
Pilot for Small Entities. Form PTO/SB/
441 is available on the USPTO’s Internet
Web site on the micro site for USPTO
patent-related forms (https://
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www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms).
Form PTO/SB/441 does not collect
‘‘information’’ within the meaning of
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). See 5 CFR
1320.3(h). Therefore, this notice does
not involve information collection
requirements which are subject to
review by OMB.
No petition fee is required. The
$400.00 fee for a petition under 37 CFR
41.3 is hereby sua sponte waived for
any petition to make an appeal special
under the Streamlined, Expedited
Patent Appeal Pilot for Small Entities.
MPEP section 1203 provides that an
application made special and advanced
out of turn for examination will
continue to be special throughout its
entire course of prosecution in the
Office, including appeal, if any, to the
Board. An appeal that is accorded
special status for decision on an appeal
to the Board under the Streamlined,
Expedited Patent Appeal Pilot for Small
Entities will be advanced out of turn for
a decision on the appeal by the Board.
The difference between the Streamlined,
Expedited Patent Appeal Pilot for Small
Entities and an application made special
under 37 CFR 1.102 and MPEP section
708.02 is that an application in which
an appeal is accorded special status for
decision on an appeal to the Board
under the Streamlined, Expedited
Patent Appeal Pilot for Small Entities
will not have a special status under CFR
1.102 and MPEP section 708.02 after the
decision on the appeal.
The goal for handling an application
in which a petition to make an appeal
special under the Streamlined,
Expedited Patent Appeal Pilot for Small
Entities is filed is as follows: (1)
rendering a decision on the petition to
make the appeal special no later than
two months from the filing date of the
petition; and (2) rendering a decision on
the appeal no later than four months
from the date a petition to make an
appeal special under the Streamlined,
Expedited Patent Appeal Pilot for Small
Entities is granted. The current
pendency of decided appeals in
applications, for those appeals decided
this fiscal year, ranges between an
average of 24.9 months for appeals from
applications assigned to Technology
Center 1700 and an average of 32.5
months for appeals from applications
assigned to Technology Center 1600,
and is shown for each Technology
Center in the following table:
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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 178 / Tuesday, September 15, 2015 / Notices
Technology center
1600
1700
2100
2400
2600
2800
2900
3600
3700
Average
months from
docketing
notice to
board
decision
..........................................
..........................................
..........................................
..........................................
..........................................
..........................................
..........................................
..........................................
..........................................
32.5
24.9
31.6
31.2
31.2
27.0
26.2
31.7
30.1
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Ex parte reexamination proceedings,
including any appeal to the Board, are
conducted with special dispatch within
the USPTO. See 35 U.S.C. 305. The
current average pendency of appeals in
ex parte reexaminations, for those
appeals decided this fiscal year, is 6.0
months. The USPTO is not making the
Streamlined, Expedited Patent Appeal
Pilot for Small Entities applicable to
appeals in ex parte reexaminations as
these appeals already are handled with
special dispatch, and the petition
evaluation process only would delay the
Board decision in an appeal in an ex
parte reexamination.
The Streamlined, Expedited Patent
Appeal Pilot for Small Entities is being
adopted on a temporary basis until two
thousand (2,000) appeals have been
accorded special status under the pilot,
or until September 16, 2016, whichever
occurs earlier. The USPTO may extend
the Streamlined, Expedited Patent
Appeal Pilot for Small Entities (with or
without modification) on either a
temporary or permanent basis, or may
discontinue the pilot after September
16, 2016, depending upon the results.
Additional information concerning the
Streamlined, Expedited Patent Appeal
Pilot for Small Entities, including
statistical information and pendency of
appeals before the Board, can found on
the USPTO Internet Web site at:
https://www-cms.uspto.gov/patentsapplication-process/patent-trial-andappeal-board/expedited-patent-appealpilot.
Dated: September 8, 2015.
Michelle K. Lee,
Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual
Property and Director of the United States
Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. 2015–23090 Filed 9–14–15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–16–P
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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Department of the Army
[Docket ID: USA–2015–0014]
Submission for OMB Review;
Comment Request
ACTION:
Notice.
The Department of Defense
has submitted to OMB for clearance, the
following proposal for collection of
information under the provisions of the
Paperwork Reduction Act.
DATES: Consideration will be given to all
comments received by October 15, 2015.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Fred
Licari, 571–372–0493.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title, Associated Form And OMB
Number: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
Instrument for Hurricane Evacuation
Behavioral Survey; Generic Collection
for OMB Control Number 0710–XXXX.
Type of Request: New.
Number of Respondents: 6000.
Responses per Respondent: 1.
Annual Responses: 6000.
Average Burden per Response: 15
minutes.
Annual Burden Hours: 1500.
Needs and Uses: USACE is preparing
a Hurricane Evacuation Study to
identify clearance times for the
evacuations of coastal areas in advance
of a hurricane or tropical storm threat.
Part of the evacuation study is a
behavioral assessment, which identifies
the factors and decision points for
individuals who are evacuation from
areas vulnerable to the storm. The
proposed behavioral assessment will
use phone interviews to determine the
likelihood of evacuation, the method of
evacuation, and the number of vehicles
and individuals that will be evacuated
for all contacted individuals.
Affected Public: Individuals or
Households.
Frequency: Annual.
Respondent’s Obligation: Voluntary.
OMB Desk Officer: Mr. Stuart
Levenbach.
Comments and recommendations on
the proposed information collection
should be emailed to Mr. Stuart
Levenbach, DoD Desk Officer, at Oira_
submission@omb.eop.gov. Please
identify the proposed information
collection by DoD Desk Officer and the
Docket ID number and title of the
information collection.
You may also submit comments and
recommendations, identified by Docket
ID number and title, by the following
method:
• Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://
www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments.
SUMMARY:
PO 00000
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55341
Instructions: All submissions received
must include the agency name, Docket
ID number and title for this Federal
Register document. The general policy
for comments and other submissions
from members of the public is to make
these submissions available for public
viewing on the Internet at https://
www.regulations.gov as they are
received without change, including any
personal identifiers or contact
information.
DOD Clearance Officer: Mr. Frederick
Licari.
Written requests for copies of the
information collection proposal should
be sent to Mr. Licari at WHS/ESD
Directives Division, 4800 Mark Center
Drive, East Tower, Suite 02G09,
Alexandria, VA 22350–3100.
Dated: September 9, 2015.
Aaron Siegel,
Alternate OSD Federal Register, Liaison
Officer, Department of Defense.
[FR Doc. 2015–23069 Filed 9–14–15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3710–08–P
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Department of the Army
[Docket ID: USA–2015–0005]
Submission for OMB Review;
Comment Request
ACTION:
Notice.
The Department of Defense
has submitted to OMB for clearance, the
following proposal for collection of
information under the provisions of the
Paperwork Reduction Act.
DATES: Consideration will be given to all
comments received by October 15, 2015.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Fred
Licari, 571–372–0493.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title, Associated Form and OMB
Number: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Flood Risk Management Surveys;
Generic Collection for OMB Control
Number 0710–XXXX.
Type of Request: New.
Number of Respondents: 7,000.
Responses per Respondent: 1.
Annual Responses: 7,000.
Average Burden per Response: 43
minutes.
Annual Burden Hours: 5,000.
Needs and Uses: The Corps of
Engineers uses public surveys for
collecting data for planning,
formulation, and evaluation of projects.
Floodplain residents, property owners,
businesses, and nonprofit organizations,
who are flood victims, are interviewed
along with state and local officials and
other affected individuals.
SUMMARY:
E:\FR\FM\15SEN1.SGM
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 178 (Tuesday, September 15, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55339-55341]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-23090]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Patent and Trademark Office
[Docket No.: PTO-P-2015-0062]
Streamlined, Expedited Patent Appeal Pilot for Small Entities
AGENCY: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Commerce.
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has a
procedure under which an application will be advanced out of turn
(accorded special status) for examination if the applicant files a
petition to make special with the appropriate showing. The USPTO is
providing a temporary basis (the Streamlined, Expedited Patent Appeal
Pilot for Small Entities) under which a small or micro entity appellant
may have an ex parte appeal to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board
(Board) accorded special status if the appellant has only a single
appeal pending before the Board and the appellant agrees to streamline
the appeal. Specifically, the appeal must not involve any claim subject
to a rejection for lack of written description, enablement, or best
mode, or for indefiniteness, and the appellant must agree to the
disposition of all claims subject to each ground of rejection as a
single group and waive any request for an oral hearing. The
Streamlined, Expedited Patent Appeal Pilot for Small Entities will
allow small or micro entity appellants who streamline their appeals to
have greater control over the priority with which their appeals are
decided.
DATES: Effective Date: September 18, 2015.
Duration: The Streamlined, Expedited Patent Appeal Pilot for Small
Entities is being adopted on a temporary basis and
[[Page 55340]]
will run until two thousand (2,000) appeals have been accorded special
status under the pilot, or until September 16, 2016, whichever occurs
earlier. The USPTO may extend the Streamlined, Expedited Patent Appeal
Pilot for Small Entities (with or without modification) on either a
temporary or permanent basis, or may discontinue this pilot after
September 16, 2016, depending upon the results.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Steven Bartlett, Patent Trial and
Appeal Board, by telephone at 571-272-9797, or by electronic mail
message at expeditedpatentappealspilot@uspto.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Appeals to the Board are normally taken up
for decision by the Board in the order in which they are docketed. The
USPTO has a preexisting procedure under which an application will be
advanced out of turn (accorded special status) if the applicant files a
petition to make special with the appropriate showing. See 37 CFR 1.102
and MPEP section 708.02. The USPTO recently adopted the Expedited
Patent Appeal Pilot, under which an appellant may have an ex parte
appeal to the Board in an application accorded special status if the
appellant withdraws the appeal in another application or ex parte
reexamination with an ex parte appeal also pending before the Board.
See Expedited Patent Appeal Pilot, 80 FR 34145 (June 15, 2015). The
USPTO is now adopting, on a temporary basis, the Streamlined, Expedited
Patent Appeal Pilot for Small Entities, under which a small or micro
entity appellant may have an ex parte appeal to the Board accorded
special status if the appellant has only a single appeal pending before
the Board as of September 18, 2015 and the appellant agrees to
streamline the appeal. The Streamlined, Expedited Patent Appeal Pilot
for Small Entities will permit small or micro entity appellants to
accelerate the Board decision on an appeal, possibly hastening the pace
at which the invention is patented and brought to the marketplace, and
thus spurring follow-on innovation, economic growth, and job creation.
The streamlining of appeals under this pilot also will assist the Board
to more efficiently reduce the overall inventory of pending appeals.
The USPTO will accord special status to an appeal pending before
the Board under the Streamlined, Expedited Patent Appeal Pilot for
Small Entities under the following conditions:
(1) A certification and petition under 37 CFR 41.3 must be filed by
the USPTO's electronic filing system (EFS-Web) in the application
involved in the ex parte appeal for which special status is sought
(``appeal to be made special''), identifying that application and
appeal by application and appeal number, respectively. In addition, the
appeal to be made special must be the appellant's only appeal pending
before the Board as of September 18, 2015, and the appeal to be made
special must have been docketed with the PTAB on or before September
18, 2015.
(2) The appellant must certify that the appellant has established
status as a small entity or micro entity in the application underlying
the appeal to be made special and also must certify that status as a
small entity or micro entity is still appropriate. See 37 CFR 1.27 and
1.28 concerning small entity status and see 37 CFR 1.29 concerning
micro entity status.
(3) The appellant must agree that, for each ground of rejection
applying to two or more claims, the PTAB may select a single claim from
the claims subject to each ground of rejection and decide the appeal to
be made special with respect to every claim subject to that ground of
rejection on the basis of the selected claim alone. See 37 CFR
41.37(c)(1)(iv) concerning the treatment of claims subject to the same
ground of rejection argued together as a group.
(4) The appellant must certify that the appeal to be made special
does not involve any claim subject to a rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112.
If an appeal made special under the Streamlined, Expedited Patent
Appeal Pilot for Small Entities is found to involve one or more claims
subject to a rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112, the appeal normally will be
removed from the pilot at the discretion of the Board.
(5) The appellant must agree to waive any oral hearing in the
appeal to be made special, and acknowledge that any oral hearing fees
paid in connection with the appeal to be made special will not be
refunded.
(6) The petition under 37 CFR 41.3 must be signed by a registered
practitioner who has a power of attorney under 37 CFR 1.32, or has
authority to act under 37 CFR 1.34, for the application involved in the
appeal to be made special.
The USPTO has created a form-fillable Portable Document Format
(PDF) ``Petition to Make Special--the Streamlined, Expedited Patent
Appeal Pilot for Small Entities'' (Form PTO/SB/441) for use in filing a
certification and petition under 37 CFR 41.3 under the Streamlined,
Expedited Patent Appeal Pilot for Small Entities. Form PTO/SB/441 is
available on the USPTO's Internet Web site on the micro site for USPTO
patent-related forms (https://www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms). Form
PTO/SB/441 does not collect ``information'' within the meaning of the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). See 5 CFR
1320.3(h). Therefore, this notice does not involve information
collection requirements which are subject to review by OMB.
No petition fee is required. The $400.00 fee for a petition under
37 CFR 41.3 is hereby sua sponte waived for any petition to make an
appeal special under the Streamlined, Expedited Patent Appeal Pilot for
Small Entities.
MPEP section 1203 provides that an application made special and
advanced out of turn for examination will continue to be special
throughout its entire course of prosecution in the Office, including
appeal, if any, to the Board. An appeal that is accorded special status
for decision on an appeal to the Board under the Streamlined, Expedited
Patent Appeal Pilot for Small Entities will be advanced out of turn for
a decision on the appeal by the Board. The difference between the
Streamlined, Expedited Patent Appeal Pilot for Small Entities and an
application made special under 37 CFR 1.102 and MPEP section 708.02 is
that an application in which an appeal is accorded special status for
decision on an appeal to the Board under the Streamlined, Expedited
Patent Appeal Pilot for Small Entities will not have a special status
under CFR 1.102 and MPEP section 708.02 after the decision on the
appeal.
The goal for handling an application in which a petition to make an
appeal special under the Streamlined, Expedited Patent Appeal Pilot for
Small Entities is filed is as follows: (1) rendering a decision on the
petition to make the appeal special no later than two months from the
filing date of the petition; and (2) rendering a decision on the appeal
no later than four months from the date a petition to make an appeal
special under the Streamlined, Expedited Patent Appeal Pilot for Small
Entities is granted. The current pendency of decided appeals in
applications, for those appeals decided this fiscal year, ranges
between an average of 24.9 months for appeals from applications
assigned to Technology Center 1700 and an average of 32.5 months for
appeals from applications assigned to Technology Center 1600, and is
shown for each Technology Center in the following table:
[[Page 55341]]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Average
months from
docketing
Technology center notice to
board
decision
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1600....................................................... 32.5
1700....................................................... 24.9
2100....................................................... 31.6
2400....................................................... 31.2
2600....................................................... 31.2
2800....................................................... 27.0
2900....................................................... 26.2
3600....................................................... 31.7
3700....................................................... 30.1
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ex parte reexamination proceedings, including any appeal to the
Board, are conducted with special dispatch within the USPTO. See 35
U.S.C. 305. The current average pendency of appeals in ex parte
reexaminations, for those appeals decided this fiscal year, is 6.0
months. The USPTO is not making the Streamlined, Expedited Patent
Appeal Pilot for Small Entities applicable to appeals in ex parte
reexaminations as these appeals already are handled with special
dispatch, and the petition evaluation process only would delay the
Board decision in an appeal in an ex parte reexamination.
The Streamlined, Expedited Patent Appeal Pilot for Small Entities
is being adopted on a temporary basis until two thousand (2,000)
appeals have been accorded special status under the pilot, or until
September 16, 2016, whichever occurs earlier. The USPTO may extend the
Streamlined, Expedited Patent Appeal Pilot for Small Entities (with or
without modification) on either a temporary or permanent basis, or may
discontinue the pilot after September 16, 2016, depending upon the
results. Additional information concerning the Streamlined, Expedited
Patent Appeal Pilot for Small Entities, including statistical
information and pendency of appeals before the Board, can found on the
USPTO Internet Web site at: https://www-cms.uspto.gov/patents-application-process/patent-trial-and-appeal-board/expedited-patent-appeal-pilot.
Dated: September 8, 2015.
Michelle K. Lee,
Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of
the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. 2015-23090 Filed 9-14-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-16-P
