Department of Commerce March 27, 2014 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The National Marine Fisheries Service, Bureau of Reclamation, and the Fish and Wildlife Service are extending the comment period on the Draft Bay Delta Conservation Plan and Natural Community Conservation Plan (BDCP, or the Plan) and Draft BDCP Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement (EIR/EIS). In response to public requests, the comment period is being extended for an additional 60 days.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or Office) is initiating a Glossary Pilot Program to study how the inclusion of a glossary section in the specification of a patent application at the time of filing the application improves the clarity of the patent claims and facilitates examination of patent applications by the USPTO. Currently, there is no requirement that a glossary section be provided by an applicant as part of the patent application specification. In order to participate in the Glossary Pilot Program, an applicant will be required to include a glossary section in the patent application specification to define terms used in the patent application. The pilot is testing to see if definitions in the glossary section enhance patent quality and improve the clarity of patent claims, by enabling the USPTO and the public to more fully understand the meaning of the patent claims. This notice outlines conditions, eligibility requirements, and guidelines of the pilot program, which will govern acceptance of an application into, and examination under, the Glossary Pilot Program. Applications accepted into this pilot program will receive expedited processing by placing them on an examiner's special docket prior to the first Office action, and will have special status up to issuance of a first Office action.

On March 18, 2013 (78 FR 16622), NOAA proposed to prohibit the introduction of introduced species into the state waters of Gulf of the Farallones and Monterey Bay national marine sanctuaries (GFNMS and MBNMS, respectively). The proposed prohibition included exceptions for the catch and release of striped bass and for introduced species as part of mariculture activities in the Tomales Bay region of GFNMS (the only geographic area within sanctuaries offshore of California where mariculture occurs). NOAA is now amending the March 2013 proposed rule to allow GFNMS and MBNMS to authorize certain introduced species of shellfish from commercial mariculture projects in all state waters of the sanctuaries.