Department of Commerce October 27, 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The electronic sharing of information and documents between intellectual property (IP) offices is critical for increasing the efficiency and quality of patent examination worldwide. Current examples of this sharing include the priority document exchange (PDX) program and the program by which U.S. search results are delivered to the European Patent Office (EPO). In support of electronic file sharing, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (Office) is revising its rules of practice to include a specific provision by which an applicant can authorize the Office to give a foreign IP office that is a party to an agreement with the Office access to all or part of the file contents of an unpublished U.S. patent application in order to satisfy a requirement for information imposed on a counterpart application filed with the foreign IP office. Previously, for unpublished U.S. patent applications, applicants followed one regulatory provision to provide the Office with authorization for a foreign IP office to access an application-as-filed and followed another regulatory provision to provide the Office with authorization to share the file contents with a foreign IP office. The final rule changes consolidate the specific provisions of the regulations by which applicants give the Office authority to provide a foreign IP office with access to an application in order to satisfy a requirement for information of the foreign IP office. The Office is also revising the rules of practice to indicate there is no fee for providing a foreign IP office with an electronic copy of an application-as-filed or an electronic copy of file contents pursuant to a bilateral or multilateral agreement. Additionally, along with changes to the application data sheet (ADS) form, the final rule changes simplify the process for how applicants provide the Office with the required authorization, thereby reducing the resources applicants must expend to comply with these foreign IP office requirements, and enhance the quality of patent examination.

The Census Bureau hereby announces that it will streamline the production and release of American Community Survey (ACS) Summary Level 070 tables (state/county/county subdivision/place remainder (or part)) to the 15 tables necessary for the delineation of metropolitan, micropolitan, and related statistical areas as defined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The ACS collects detailed demographic, social, economic, and housing data from about 3.5 million addresses in the United States and 36,000 in Puerto Rico each year. Annual data products are released in the form of 1-Year and 5-Year estimates with 5-Year estimates being produced for over 578,000 geographies by 87 different summary levels. Most summary levels and their corresponding geographies are then produced for approximately 1,000 detailed tables. As a cost-saving measure and to improve the usability of the estimates, the Census Bureau has decided to streamline the production and release of Summary Level 070 tables to the 15 tables necessary for delineation. Based on data user analytics, customer feedback, and responses from an earlier Federal Register Notice (June 5, 2015; 80 FR 32084) soliciting comments on the streamlining of the summary level, we believe that the streamlining of this summary level will not have a significant impact to our data users. Therefore, beginning in December 2015, the Census Bureau will be tabulating and releasing only those 15 tables for Summary Level 070 that are necessary for the delineation of metropolitan, micropolitan, and related statistical areas (particularly for identification of New England City and Town Area principal cities), commuting analysis, and basic demographic and housing analysis.

NMFS proposes to implement a resolution adopted by the Inter- American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) by requiring U.S. vessels, fishing for tuna and tuna-like species with a capacity equal to or greater than 100 gross resister tons (GRT), to have an International Maritime Organization (IMO) number. The IMO numbers will be included with information the United States sends to the IATTC for vessels authorized to fish in the IATTC Convention Area for tuna and tuna-like species, and will enable more effective tracking of vessels that may be engaging in illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.