Expansion and Extension of the Climate Change Mitigation Pilot Program, 35841-35843 [2023-11660]
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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 105 / Thursday, June 1, 2023 / Notices
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
[RTID 0648–XD050]
Fishing Capacity Reduction Program
for the Southeast Alaska Purse Seine
Salmon Fishery
National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration,
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of fee rate adjustment
change.
AGENCY:
NMFS issues this notice to
inform the public that there will be a
decrease of the fee rate required to repay
the reduction loan financing the
Southeast Alaska Purse Seine Salmon
Fishing Capacity reduction program.
Effective June 1, 2023, NMFS is
decreasing the Loan B fee rate to one
percent of landed value to ensure timely
repayment of the loan. The fee rate for
Loan A will remain unchanged at one
percent of landed value.
DATES: The Southeast Alaska Purse
Seine Salmon Fishing Capacity loan
program fee rate increase will begin
with landings on June 1, 2023. The first
due date for fee payments with the
increased rate will be July 15, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Send questions about this
notice to Michael A. Sturtevant,
Program Manager, Financial Services
Division, National Marine Fisheries
Service, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver
Spring, MD 20910–3282.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Michael A. Sturtevant, (301) 427–8782.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
SUMMARY:
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Background
The Southeast Alaska Purse Seine
Salmon Fishery is a commercial fishery
in Alaska State waters and adjacent
Federal waters. It encompasses the
commercial taking of salmon with purse
seine gear and participation is limited to
fishermen designated by the Alaska
Commercial Fisheries Entry
Commission (CFEC).
The Fishing Capacity Reduction
Program was established under the
Consolidations Act of 2005 (Section 209
of Title II of Division B of Public Law
108–447). This Federal law was
subsequently amended by Section 121
of Public Law 109–479 (the MagnusonStevens Reauthorization Act of 2006)
codified at 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq. The
authority for the Southeast
Revitalization Association (SRA) to
conduct this program under Alaska law
is AS 16.40.250.
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17:37 May 31, 2023
Jkt 259001
Based on these Federal and state
measures, the NMFS established
regulations in the Federal Register, 76
FR 61986 (October 6, 2011), to
administer and implement the program.
The purpose of the program and this
plan is to permanently reduce the
number of limited entry fishing permits
issued by the CFEC for the Fishery
thereby promoting economic efficiency
and improving the conservation and
management of the Fishery.
Congress authorized a $23.5 million
dollar loan to finance a fishing capacity
reduction program in the Southeast
Alaska Purse Seine Salmon Fishery.
NMFS published proposed program
regulations on (76 FR 29707, May 23,
2011) and final program regulations on
(76 FR 61986, October 6, 2011) to
implement the reduction program.
In 2012, NMFS conducted a
referendum to determine the remaining
fishermen’s willingness to repay a $13.1
million fishing capacity reduction loan
to remove 64 permits. After a majority
of permit holders approved the loan,
NMFS disbursed payments to the
successful bidders and began collecting
fees to repay the loan. Since only $13.1
million was expended from the total
loan amount, $10.4 million in funds
remained available.
In 2018, the SRA informed NMFS that
they wished to access the remaining
loan amounts to undertake a second
buyback. To implement this next
buyback, the SRA, on behalf of the
reduction fishery, was required to draft
and submit a reduction plan to NMFS.
On June 21, 2018, the SRA submitted a
reduction plan to access $10.1 million
of the remaining $10.4 million in funds
to remove 36 permits. NMFS approved
the proposed second fishing capacity
reduction plan in November 2018.
NMFS published a notice of eligible
voters on (83 FR 62302, December 3,
2018) informing the public of the
permanent permit holders eligible to
vote in the referendum and informing
the eligible voters of the referendum
voting period.
Purpose
The purpose of this notice is to
announce the current fee rates for the
reduction fishery in accordance with the
framework rule at 50 CFR 600.1013(b).
Section 600.1013(b) directs NMFS to
recalculate the fee to a rate that will be
reasonably necessary to ensure
reduction loan repayment within the
specified 40-year term.
For the 2022 fishing season, the fee
rate for Loan A was one percent and
Loan B was 2.5 percent of the landed
value and any subsequent bonus
payment. Loan A is currently well
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35841
ahead of the scheduled amortization
and will remain so keeping the rate at
one percent of gross value of salmon
sold. Loan B is also ahead of the
scheduled amortization. Beginning June
1, 2023, the Loan B fee rate will be
decreased from 2.5 percent to one
percent of gross value of salmon sold
and is projected to be remain ahead at
the end of the 2023 season.
Fish buyers may continue to use
Pay.gov to disburse collected fee
deposits at: https://www.pay.gov/paygov/.
Please visit the NOAA Fisheries website
for additional information at: https://
www.fisheries.noaa.gov/alaska/fundingand-financial-services/southeast-alaskapurse-seine-salmon-fishery-buybackprogram.
Notice
The new fee rate for the Southeast
Alaska Purse Seine Salmon Fishery will
begin on June 1, 2023.
From and after this date, all subsector
members paying fees on the Southeast
Alaska Purse Seine Salmon Fishery
shall begin paying program fees at the
revised rate.
Fee collection and submission shall
follow previously established methods
in § 600.1013 of the framework rule and
in the final fee rule published in the
Federal Register on (76 FR 61985,
October 6, 2011).
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1861 et seq.; Pub.
L. 108–447.
Dated: May 24, 2023.
Brian T. Pawlak,
Chief Financial Officer/Chief Administrative
Officer, Director Office of Management and
Budget, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2023–11638 Filed 5–26–23; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510–22–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Patent and Trademark Office
[Docket No.: PTO–P–2023–0023]
Expansion and Extension of the
Climate Change Mitigation Pilot
Program
United States Patent and
Trademark Office, Department of
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
On June 3, 2022, the United
States Patent and Trademark Office
(USPTO) implemented the Climate
Change Mitigation Pilot Program as a
component of its ongoing efforts to
encourage and incentivize innovation in
the climate space and as an example of
its commitment to policies tackling
climate change. The initial phase of the
SUMMARY:
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35842
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 105 / Thursday, June 1, 2023 / Notices
program—ending June 5, 2023—has
sought to positively impact the climate
by accelerating the examination of
patent applications for products and
processes designed to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions. Through this
notice, the USPTO is expanding the
program to include innovations in any
economic sector that are designed to
make progress toward achieving netzero greenhouse gas emissions. This
includes innovations designed to
remove greenhouse gases already
present in the atmosphere; reduce and/
or prevent additional greenhouse gas
emissions; and/or monitor, track, and/or
verify greenhouse gas emission
reductions. The USPTO is also
increasing the filing limitations for
petitions under the program and
extending the duration of the program.
These changes will permit more
applications to qualify for the program,
thereby allowing more innovations that
will aid in achieving national climate
goals to be advanced out of turn for
examination. As with the existing
program, applications accepted into the
expanded program will be advanced out
of turn (accorded special status) for first
action on the merits. The conditions,
eligibility requirements, and guidelines
of the expanded program will be the
same as those established for the
existing program, unless modified by
this notice. By expanding and extending
the program, the USPTO aims to
emphasize the urgency of zero- and
negative-emissions solutions, and
further encourage investment in an
equitable, clean energy future.
DATES: Pilot Duration: The Climate
Change Mitigation Pilot Program, as
expanded by this notice, will run from
June 6, 2023, until either June 7, 2027,
or the date the USPTO accepts a total of
4,000 grantable petitions (considering
both the existing and expanded
programs), whichever occurs first. The
USPTO may, at its sole discretion,
terminate the program depending on
factors such as workload and resources
needed to administer the program,
feedback from the public, and the
effectiveness of the program. If the
program is terminated, the USPTO will
notify the public. The USPTO will
continue to indicate on its website the
total number of petitions filed and the
number of applications accepted into
the program.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Kristie A. Mahone, Senior Legal
Advisor, Office of Patent Legal
Administration, Office of the Deputy
Commissioner for Patents, at 571–272–
9016 or Kristie.Mahone@uspto.gov; or
Susy Tsang-Foster, Senior Legal
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17:37 May 31, 2023
Jkt 259001
Advisor, Office of Patent Legal
Administration, Office of the Deputy
Commissioner for Patents, at 571–272–
7711 or Susy.Tsang-Foster@uspto.gov.
For questions on electronic filing, please
contact the Patent Electronic Business
Center at 866–217–9197 during its
operating hours of 6 a.m. to midnight
ET, Monday–Friday, or ebc@uspto.gov.
For questions related to a particular
petition, please contact the Office of
Petitions at 571–272–3282 during its
operating hours of 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
ET, Monday–Friday.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Part I. Background
Executive Order 14008, dated January
27, 2021, calls for immediately reducing
greenhouse gas emissions and achieving
net-zero greenhouse gas emissions no
later than 2050. See E.O. 14008 of
January 27, 2021: Tackling the Climate
Crisis at Home and Abroad, 86 FR 7619
(Feb. 1, 2021). Net-zero greenhouse gas
emissions means that the measure of
greenhouse gas emitted into the
atmosphere is counterbalanced by the
measure of greenhouse gas removed
from the atmosphere. While accelerating
innovations designed to reduce
emissions is of foremost importance,
solutions for removing greenhouse gases
from the atmosphere are critical because
of the unlikelihood of eliminating
emissions in all sectors. See The LongTerm Strategy of the United States:
Pathways to Net-Zero Greenhouse Gas
Emissions by 2050 (Nov. 2021),
available at www.whitehouse.gov/wpcontent/uploads/2021/10/US-LongTerm-Strategy.pdf (2021 Long-Term
Strategy).
In 2022, the USPTO published a
notice implementing the Climate
Change Mitigation Pilot Program, which
aligns with and supports Executive
Order 14008. See Climate Change
Mitigation Pilot Program, 87 FR 33750
(June 3, 2022) (2022 Notice). The initial
phase of the program has focused on
innovations that reduce greenhouse gas
emissions. Specifically, the existing
program permits an application that
claims certain products and/or
processes designed to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions to be
advanced out of turn (accorded special
status) for first action on the merits
without meeting all of the requirements
of the accelerated examination program,
if the applicant files a petition to make
special under 37 CFR 1.102(d) that
meets all the requirements in the 2022
Notice. In the petition to make special,
the applicant must certify that: (1) the
claimed invention covers a product or
process that mitigates climate change,
PO 00000
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(2) the product or process is designed to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions, (3) the
applicant has a good faith belief that
expediting patent examination of the
application will likely have a positive
impact on the climate, and (4) the
inventor or any joint inventor has not
been named as the inventor or a joint
inventor on more than four other
nonprovisional applications in which a
petition to make special under this
program has been filed. The USPTO,
however, committed to periodically
evaluating the program to determine
whether and to what extent coverage
should be expanded or limited.
Part II. Expansion of the Pilot Program
A. Subject Matter Coverage
As stressed in the 2021 Long-Term
Strategy, reaching net-zero greenhouse
gas emissions by 2050 necessitates a
robust pursuit of removal solutions,
given the unlikelihood of completely
eliminating greenhouse gas emissions
from some activities. Further,
technologies designed to monitor, track,
and/or verify greenhouse gas emission
reductions are anticipated as necessary
expedients. See U.S. Innovation to Meet
2050 Climate Goals: Assessing Initial
R&D Opportunities (Nov. 2022),
available at www.whitehouse.gov/wpcontent/uploads/2022/11/U.S.Innovation-to-Meet-2050-ClimateGoals.pdf. Considering the criticality of
tackling climate change and the
experiential knowledge of the USPTO
resources needed to deliver accelerated
review in the climate space, the USPTO
is expanding the program to include a
broader range of technologies designed
to make progress toward achieving the
goal of net-zero emissions. Specifically,
the USPTO is replacing the second
certification set forth in the 2022 Notice
with a certification ‘‘that the product or
process is designed to: (a) remove
greenhouse gases already present in the
atmosphere; (b) reduce and/or prevent
additional greenhouse gas emissions;
and/or (c) monitor, track, and/or verify
greenhouse gas emission reductions.’’
Applicants must continue to certify that
the claimed invention covers a product
or process that mitigates climate change,
and that they have a good faith belief
that expediting patent examination of
the application will likely have a
positive impact on the climate, as set
forth in the 2022 Notice.
B. Filing Limitations
The USPTO is also increasing the
filing limitations to afford more
opportunities to participate. In
particular, an applicant may file a
petition to participate in the program if
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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 105 / Thursday, June 1, 2023 / Notices
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the inventor or any joint inventor has
not been named as the inventor or a
joint inventor on more than 12—up
from 4—other nonprovisional patent
applications in which a petition to make
special under this program has been
filed. Specifically, the USPTO is
replacing the fourth certification set
forth in the 2022 Notice with a
certification ‘‘that the inventor or any
joint inventor has not been named as the
inventor or a joint inventor on more
than 12 other nonprovisional
applications in which a petition to make
special under this program has been
filed.’’ If the inventor or any one of the
joint inventors of the current
application has been named as the
inventor or a joint inventor on more
than 12 other nonprovisional patent
applications in which petitions under
this program have been filed, then the
petition for the current application may
not be appropriately filed. Any petitions
filed during the existing program count
toward the filing limitations in the
expanded program.
C. Office Form Required for Filing a
Petition
Petition form PTO/SB/457, titled
‘‘CERTIFICATION AND PETITION TO
MAKE SPECIAL UNDER THE CLIMATE
CHANGE MITIGATION PILOT
PROGRAM,’’ is still required to make
the petition under the program. Other
than the changes to the subject matter
coverage and the filing limitations
described above, the conditions,
eligibility requirements, and guidelines
of the program will be the same as those
provided in the 2022 Notice. The
USPTO will modify the certifications
contained in petition form PTO/SB/
457—at numbered items 2 and 11—to
correspond with the changes described
above. The modified petition form will
be available for use on June 6, 2023, at
www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/forms.
The USPTO reminds applicants that
under the 2022 Notice, the petition to
make special (form PTO/SB/457) must
be electronically filed using Patent
Center, with the application or entry
into the national stage under 35 U.S.C.
371, or within 30 days of the filing date
or entry date of the application. The
USPTO encourages applicants
interested in participating in the
program to review the 2022 Notice,
along with the information provided on
the program’s web page, at
www.uspto.gov/patents/laws/patentrelated-notices/climate-changemitigation-pilot-program.
Part III. Extension of the Pilot Program
The program, as expanded by this
notice, will run from June 6, 2023, until
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:37 May 31, 2023
Jkt 259001
either June 7, 2027, or until the date that
the USPTO accepts a total of 4,000
grantable petitions, whichever occurs
first. The total of 4,000 grantable
petitions includes petitions granted
under the existing and expanded
programs combined. Information
concerning the number of petitions that
have been filed and granted under the
program will continue to be available on
the program’s web page. The USPTO
may further extend the program (with or
without modifications) depending on
feedback from the participants and the
effectiveness of the program.
Katherine K. Vidal,
Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual
Property and Director of the United States
Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. 2023–11660 Filed 5–31–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–16–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Patent and Trademark Office
Agency Information Collection
Activities; Submission to the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) for
Review and Approval; Comment
Request; Native American Tribal
Insignia Database
The United States Patent and
Trademark Office (USPTO) will submit
the following information collection
request to the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) for review and clearance
in accordance with the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995, on or after the
date of publication of this notice. The
USPTO invites comment on this
information collection renewal, which
helps the USPTO assess the impact of
its information collection requirements
and minimize the public’s reporting
burden. Public comments were
previously requested via the Federal
Register on March 8, 2023 during a 60day comment period. This notice allows
for an additional 30 days for public
comments.
Agency: United States Patent and
Trademark Office, Department of
Commerce.
Title: Native American Tribal Insignia
Database.
OMB Control Number: 0651–0048.
Needs and Uses: The Trademark Law
Treaty Implementation Act of 1998 1
(Pub. L. 105–330, 302, 112 Stat. 3071)
required the USPTO to study issues
surrounding the protection of the
official insignia of federally and staterecognized Native American tribes
1 https://www.uspto.gov/trademark/lawsregulations/trademark-law-treaty-implementationact.
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35843
under trademark law. The USPTO
conducted the study and presented a
report to the House and Senate Judiciary
Committees on November 30, 1999. One
of the recommendations made in the
report was that the USPTO create and
maintain an accurate and
comprehensive database containing the
official insignia of all federally and
state-recognized Native American tribes.
In accordance with this
recommendation, the Senate Committee
on Appropriations directed the USPTO
to create this database. The USPTO
published the final procedures for
establishing and maintaining the tribal
insignia database in the Federal
Register on August 24, 2001 (66 FR
44603).2
The USPTO database of official tribal
insignias provides evidence of what a
federally or state-recognized Native
American tribe considers to be its
official insignia. Section 2(a) of the
Trademark Act, 15 U.S.C. 1052(a),
disallows the registration of marks that
falsely suggest a connection with a nonsponsoring person or institution,
including a Native American tribe. The
database thereby assists trademark
examining attorneys in their
examination of applications for
trademark registration by serving as a
reference for determining the
registrability of a mark that may falsely
suggest a connection to the official
insignia of a Native American tribe. The
database, included within Trademark
Electronic Search System (TESS),3 is
available to the public on the USPTO
website, and includes an online help
program for using the system. More
information about the program is
available on the website at https://
www.uspto.gov/trademarks/laws/nativeamerican-tribal-insignia.
Tribes are not required to request that
their official insignia be included in the
database. The entry of an official
insignia into the database does not
confer any rights to the tribe that
submitted the insignia, and entry is not
the legal equivalent of registering the
insignia as a trademark under 15 U.S.C.
1051 et seq. The inclusion of an official
tribal insignia in the database does not
create any legal presumption of validity
or priority, does not carry any of the
benefits of federal trademark
registration, and is not a determination
as to whether a particular insignia
would be allowed or refused registration
2 https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/
2001/08/24/01-21479/establishment-of-a-databasecontaining-the-official-insignia-of-federally-andstate-recognized.
3 https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks-applicationprocess/search-trademark-database.
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 105 (Thursday, June 1, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35841-35843]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-11660]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Patent and Trademark Office
[Docket No.: PTO-P-2023-0023]
Expansion and Extension of the Climate Change Mitigation Pilot
Program
AGENCY: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Department of
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: On June 3, 2022, the United States Patent and Trademark Office
(USPTO) implemented the Climate Change Mitigation Pilot Program as a
component of its ongoing efforts to encourage and incentivize
innovation in the climate space and as an example of its commitment to
policies tackling climate change. The initial phase of the
[[Page 35842]]
program--ending June 5, 2023--has sought to positively impact the
climate by accelerating the examination of patent applications for
products and processes designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Through this notice, the USPTO is expanding the program to include
innovations in any economic sector that are designed to make progress
toward achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. This includes
innovations designed to remove greenhouse gases already present in the
atmosphere; reduce and/or prevent additional greenhouse gas emissions;
and/or monitor, track, and/or verify greenhouse gas emission
reductions. The USPTO is also increasing the filing limitations for
petitions under the program and extending the duration of the program.
These changes will permit more applications to qualify for the program,
thereby allowing more innovations that will aid in achieving national
climate goals to be advanced out of turn for examination. As with the
existing program, applications accepted into the expanded program will
be advanced out of turn (accorded special status) for first action on
the merits. The conditions, eligibility requirements, and guidelines of
the expanded program will be the same as those established for the
existing program, unless modified by this notice. By expanding and
extending the program, the USPTO aims to emphasize the urgency of zero-
and negative-emissions solutions, and further encourage investment in
an equitable, clean energy future.
DATES: Pilot Duration: The Climate Change Mitigation Pilot Program, as
expanded by this notice, will run from June 6, 2023, until either June
7, 2027, or the date the USPTO accepts a total of 4,000 grantable
petitions (considering both the existing and expanded programs),
whichever occurs first. The USPTO may, at its sole discretion,
terminate the program depending on factors such as workload and
resources needed to administer the program, feedback from the public,
and the effectiveness of the program. If the program is terminated, the
USPTO will notify the public. The USPTO will continue to indicate on
its website the total number of petitions filed and the number of
applications accepted into the program.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kristie A. Mahone, Senior Legal
Advisor, Office of Patent Legal Administration, Office of the Deputy
Commissioner for Patents, at 571-272-9016 or [email protected];
or Susy Tsang-Foster, Senior Legal Advisor, Office of Patent Legal
Administration, Office of the Deputy Commissioner for Patents, at 571-
272-7711 or [email protected]. For questions on electronic
filing, please contact the Patent Electronic Business Center at 866-
217-9197 during its operating hours of 6 a.m. to midnight ET, Monday-
Friday, or [email protected]. For questions related to a particular
petition, please contact the Office of Petitions at 571-272-3282 during
its operating hours of 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET, Monday-Friday.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Part I. Background
Executive Order 14008, dated January 27, 2021, calls for
immediately reducing greenhouse gas emissions and achieving net-zero
greenhouse gas emissions no later than 2050. See E.O. 14008 of January
27, 2021: Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, 86 FR 7619
(Feb. 1, 2021). Net-zero greenhouse gas emissions means that the
measure of greenhouse gas emitted into the atmosphere is
counterbalanced by the measure of greenhouse gas removed from the
atmosphere. While accelerating innovations designed to reduce emissions
is of foremost importance, solutions for removing greenhouse gases from
the atmosphere are critical because of the unlikelihood of eliminating
emissions in all sectors. See The Long-Term Strategy of the United
States: Pathways to Net-Zero Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 2050 (Nov.
2021), available at www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/US-Long-Term-Strategy.pdf (2021 Long-Term Strategy).
In 2022, the USPTO published a notice implementing the Climate
Change Mitigation Pilot Program, which aligns with and supports
Executive Order 14008. See Climate Change Mitigation Pilot Program, 87
FR 33750 (June 3, 2022) (2022 Notice). The initial phase of the program
has focused on innovations that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Specifically, the existing program permits an application that claims
certain products and/or processes designed to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions to be advanced out of turn (accorded special status) for
first action on the merits without meeting all of the requirements of
the accelerated examination program, if the applicant files a petition
to make special under 37 CFR 1.102(d) that meets all the requirements
in the 2022 Notice. In the petition to make special, the applicant must
certify that: (1) the claimed invention covers a product or process
that mitigates climate change, (2) the product or process is designed
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, (3) the applicant has a good faith
belief that expediting patent examination of the application will
likely have a positive impact on the climate, and (4) the inventor or
any joint inventor has not been named as the inventor or a joint
inventor on more than four other nonprovisional applications in which a
petition to make special under this program has been filed. The USPTO,
however, committed to periodically evaluating the program to determine
whether and to what extent coverage should be expanded or limited.
Part II. Expansion of the Pilot Program
A. Subject Matter Coverage
As stressed in the 2021 Long-Term Strategy, reaching net-zero
greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 necessitates a robust pursuit of
removal solutions, given the unlikelihood of completely eliminating
greenhouse gas emissions from some activities. Further, technologies
designed to monitor, track, and/or verify greenhouse gas emission
reductions are anticipated as necessary expedients. See U.S. Innovation
to Meet 2050 Climate Goals: Assessing Initial R&D Opportunities (Nov.
2022), available at www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/U.S.-Innovation-to-Meet-2050-Climate-Goals.pdf. Considering the criticality
of tackling climate change and the experiential knowledge of the USPTO
resources needed to deliver accelerated review in the climate space,
the USPTO is expanding the program to include a broader range of
technologies designed to make progress toward achieving the goal of
net-zero emissions. Specifically, the USPTO is replacing the second
certification set forth in the 2022 Notice with a certification ``that
the product or process is designed to: (a) remove greenhouse gases
already present in the atmosphere; (b) reduce and/or prevent additional
greenhouse gas emissions; and/or (c) monitor, track, and/or verify
greenhouse gas emission reductions.'' Applicants must continue to
certify that the claimed invention covers a product or process that
mitigates climate change, and that they have a good faith belief that
expediting patent examination of the application will likely have a
positive impact on the climate, as set forth in the 2022 Notice.
B. Filing Limitations
The USPTO is also increasing the filing limitations to afford more
opportunities to participate. In particular, an applicant may file a
petition to participate in the program if
[[Page 35843]]
the inventor or any joint inventor has not been named as the inventor
or a joint inventor on more than 12--up from 4--other nonprovisional
patent applications in which a petition to make special under this
program has been filed. Specifically, the USPTO is replacing the fourth
certification set forth in the 2022 Notice with a certification ``that
the inventor or any joint inventor has not been named as the inventor
or a joint inventor on more than 12 other nonprovisional applications
in which a petition to make special under this program has been
filed.'' If the inventor or any one of the joint inventors of the
current application has been named as the inventor or a joint inventor
on more than 12 other nonprovisional patent applications in which
petitions under this program have been filed, then the petition for the
current application may not be appropriately filed. Any petitions filed
during the existing program count toward the filing limitations in the
expanded program.
C. Office Form Required for Filing a Petition
Petition form PTO/SB/457, titled ``CERTIFICATION AND PETITION TO
MAKE SPECIAL UNDER THE CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION PILOT PROGRAM,'' is
still required to make the petition under the program. Other than the
changes to the subject matter coverage and the filing limitations
described above, the conditions, eligibility requirements, and
guidelines of the program will be the same as those provided in the
2022 Notice. The USPTO will modify the certifications contained in
petition form PTO/SB/457--at numbered items 2 and 11--to correspond
with the changes described above. The modified petition form will be
available for use on June 6, 2023, at www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/forms.
The USPTO reminds applicants that under the 2022 Notice, the
petition to make special (form PTO/SB/457) must be electronically filed
using Patent Center, with the application or entry into the national
stage under 35 U.S.C. 371, or within 30 days of the filing date or
entry date of the application. The USPTO encourages applicants
interested in participating in the program to review the 2022 Notice,
along with the information provided on the program's web page, at
www.uspto.gov/patents/laws/patent-related-notices/climate-change-mitigation-pilot-program.
Part III. Extension of the Pilot Program
The program, as expanded by this notice, will run from June 6,
2023, until either June 7, 2027, or until the date that the USPTO
accepts a total of 4,000 grantable petitions, whichever occurs first.
The total of 4,000 grantable petitions includes petitions granted under
the existing and expanded programs combined. Information concerning the
number of petitions that have been filed and granted under the program
will continue to be available on the program's web page. The USPTO may
further extend the program (with or without modifications) depending on
feedback from the participants and the effectiveness of the program.
Katherine K. Vidal,
Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of
the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. 2023-11660 Filed 5-31-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-16-P
