Department of Commerce March 4, 2024 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In accordance with the regulations implementing the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan, this action adjusts the 2024 harvest specifications for the herring fishery. Specifically, it adjusts catch limits in herring management areas 1A, 1B, and 2 to account for catch overages and an underage in those areas during 2022. This action is necessary to help prevent overfishing and support the harvest of optimum yield consistent with the requirements of the Fishery Management Plan.

NMFS has received a request from the Port of Alaska (POA) for authorization to take small numbers of marine mammals incidental to construction activities related to the Port of Alaska Modernization Program (PAMP) Phase 2B: Cargo Docks Replacement Project, including impact and vibratory pile driving at the POA in Anchorage, Alaska, over the course of 5 years from the date of issuance. Pursuant to regulations implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is announcing receipt of the POA's request for the development and implementation of regulations governing the incidental taking of marine mammals. NMFS invites the public to provide information, suggestions, and comments on the POA's application and request.

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) is scheduling a public hybrid meeting of its Joint Groundfish Advisory and Recreational Advisory Panel to consider actions affecting New England fisheries in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Recommendations from this group will be brought to the full Council for formal consideration and action, if appropriate.

The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) is rescinding the administrative review of the antidumping duty order on utility scale wind towers (wind towers) from the People's Republic of China (China) for the period of review (POR) February 1, 2022, through January 31, 2023.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (Office or USPTO) proposes to update its rules governing amendment practice in trial proceedings under the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) to make permanent certain provisions of the Office's motion to amend pilot program (MTA pilot program) and to revise the rules that allocate burdens of persuasion in connection with motions to amend (MTAs). The Office proposes to revise its rules of practice to provide for issuance of preliminary guidance in response to an MTA and to provide a patent owner with the option for filing one additional revised MTA. Further, the Office proposes to revise the rules to clarify that a preponderance of evidence standard applies to any new ground of unpatentability raised by the Board and to clarify that when exercising the discretion to grant or deny an MTA or to raise a new ground of unpatentability, the Board may consider all evidence of record in the proceeding, including evidence identified through a prior art search conducted by the Office at the Board's request and added to the record. These rules better ensure the Office's role of issuing robust and reliable patents, and the predictability and certainty of post-grant trial proceedings before the Board. These changes would apply to the existing consolidated set of rules relating to the Office trial practice for inter partes review (IPR), post-grant review (PGR), and derivation proceedings that implemented provisions of the AIA providing for trials before the Office.

The Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board (ISPAB) will meet Wednesday, March 20, 2024, from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., Eastern Time, and Thursday, March 21, 2024, from 9:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m., Eastern Time. All sessions will be open to the public.