Patent and Trademark Office November 2, 2018 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The patent laws provide for patent term adjustment in the event that the issuance of the patent is delayed due to certain enumerated administrative delays. The USPTO makes the patent term adjustment determination included on the patent by a computer program that uses the information recorded in the USPTO's Patent Application Locating and Monitoring (PALM) system. The USPTO will be modifying its computer program that calculates patent term adjustment to recognize when an applicant files an information disclosure statement concurrently with a safe harbor statement. In order to assist both applicants and the USPTO, the USPTO is providing a new form for applicants to use when making a safe harbor statement. The USPTO is also establishing an interim procedure and providing a form for patentees to request a recalculation of their patent term adjustment determination for alleged errors due to the USPTO's failure to recognize that an information disclosure statement was accompanied by a safe harbor statement.