Department of Commerce July 5, 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) implemented a Collaborative Search Pilot Program with the Japan Patent Office (JPO) on August 1, 2015, to study whether the exchange of search results between offices for corresponding counterpart applications improves patent quality and facilitates the examination of patent applications in both offices. Based upon feedback from the public, the USPTO is modifying the Collaborative Search Pilot Program between JPO and USPTO (JPO-CSP) by removing the requirement that the applications must be published in order to participate in the pilot program. The JPO and USPTO have determined that publication of the applications is unnecessary for participation in the pilot program and that unpublished applications can participate in the pilot program as long as applicants grant access to the unpublished application and provide a translated copy of the currently pending claims from the corresponding counterpart application(s). Accordingly, publication of an application will no longer be a prerequisite for participation in the JPO-CSP as of the effective date of this notice. Instead, if unpublished, applicant must provide an authorization of access to the unpublished application and submit a translation of the currently pending claims from the corresponding counterpart application(s). These modifications should permit more applications to qualify for the program, supporting the program's study of the efficacy of exchanging search results between corresponding counterpart applications to improve patent quality and facilitate examination.

On May 26, 2016, the Department of Commerce (the ``Department'') published its notice of initiation and preliminary results of a changed circumstances review of the antidumping duty (``AD'') order on crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells, whether or not assembled into modules (``solar cells''), from the People's Republic of China (``PRC'').\1\ The Department preliminarily determined that Hangzhou Sunny Energy Science and Technology Co., Ltd. (``Hangzhou Sunny'') is the successor-in-interest to Hangzhou Zhejiang University Sunny Energy Science and Technology Co., Ltd. (``Hangzhou ZU Sunny'') for purposes of the AD order on solar cells from the PRC and, as such, is entitled to Hangzhou ZU Sunny's cash deposit rate with respect to entries of subject merchandise. We invited interested parties to comment on the Preliminary Results. As no parties submitted comments, and there is no other information or evidence on the record calling into question our Preliminary Results, the Department is making no changes to the Preliminary Results. For these final results, the Department continues to find that Hangzhou Sunny is the successor in interest to Hangzhou ZU Sunny.

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council's (MAFMC's) Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Monitoring Committee (MC) will hold a public meeting.

The Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity will meet Thursday, July 14, 2016, from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Central Time at the Hilton University of Houston. The primary purpose of the meeting is to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing cybersecurity for critical infrastructure, as well as State and local governments and cybersecurity. In particular, the meeting will address: (1) Current and future effects of critical infrastructure on the digital economy; (2) critical infrastructure cybersecurity challenges affecting the digital economy; and (3) cybersecurity challenges and opportunities in State and local governments. The meeting will support detailed recommendations to strengthen cybersecurity in both the public and private sectors while protecting privacy, ensuring public safety and economic and national security, fostering discovery and development of new technical solutions, and bolstering partnerships between Federal, State, local, tribal and territorial governments and the private sector in the development, promotion, and use of cybersecurity technologies, policies, and best practices. All sessions will be open to the public.

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.

Notice is hereby given that a permit has been issued to Living Planet Productions/Silverback Films, 1 St Augustines Yard, Gaunts Lane, Bristol, BS1 5DE, United Kingdom [Responsible Party: Emily Lascelles], to conduct commercial or educational photography on bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus).