Patent and Trademark Office August 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On November 29, 1999, the President signed into law the Patent and Trademark Office Efficiency Act (the ``Act''), Pubic 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 so that by 2014, 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. Public Law 112-274, Sec. 1(l)(2) (January 14, 2013). Through this Notice, the USPTO is requesting nominations for up to three (3) members of the Trademark Public Advisory Committee for terms of approximately three years that begin on December 6, 2013. There are no vacancies expected on the Patent Public Advisory Committee for December 2013. Accordingly, no nominations are being sought for the Patent Public Advisory Committee at this time.