Department of Commerce June 19, 2014 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On November 29, 1999, the President signed into law the Patent and Trademark Office Efficiency Act (the ``Act''), Public Law 106-113, which, among other things, established two Public Advisory Committees to review the policies, goals, performance, budget and user fees of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) with respect to patents, in the case of the Patent Public Advisory Committee, and with respect to trademarks, in the case of the Trademark Public Advisory Committee, and to advise the Director on these matters (now codified at 35 U.S.C. 5). The America Invents Act Technical Corrections Act made several amendments to the 1999 Act, including the requirement that the terms of the USPTO Public Advisory Committee members be realigned by 2014, so that December 1 be used as the start and end date, with terms staggered so that each year three existing terms expire and three new terms begin on December 1. Through this Notice, the USPTO is requesting nominations for up to three (3) members of the Patent Public Advisory Committee, and for up to three (3) members of the Trademark Public Advisory Committee for terms of three years that begin on December 1, 2014.

The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The SEDAR 38 assessment of Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic King Mackerel will consist of a workshop and series of webinars. This notice is for an additional webinar associated with the Assessment portion of the SEDAR process.