Patent and Trademark Office – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, invites comments on a proposed information collection proposed extension of an existing information collection.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will host a roundtable discussion at its headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia, on October 18, 2017, on addressing intellectual property infringements at trade shows.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, invites comments on a proposed extension of an existing information collection.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued an order granting interim extension for a one-year interim extension of the term of U.S. Patent No. 7,179,464.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued an order granting interim extension for a one-year interim extension of the term of U.S. Patent No. 5,912,231.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, invites comments on a proposed extension of an existing information collection: 0651-0050 (Responses to Office Action and Voluntary Amendment Forms).

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will be holding a public symposium on issues relevant to the protection of trade secrets. Since our last symposium on these issues in January 2015, the area of trade secret protection has continued to develop, most notably with the May 11, 2016, enactment of the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA). Given this legislation and the continuing domestic and international attention to trade secrets, the USPTO will be holding another public symposium to address recent developments.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 invites public comments about the proposed extension of an existing information collection: Trademark and Trial Appeal Board (TTAB) Actions.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)), invites comments on a proposed extension of an existing information collection: Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) Actions.

In accordance with the memorandum of January 20, 2017, from the Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff, entitled ``Regulatory Freeze Pending Review,'' this action delays for 60 days the effective date of the final rule entitled ``Changes in Requirements for Affidavits or Declarations of Use, Continued Use, or Excusable Nonuse in Trademark Cases,'' published in the Federal Register on January 19, 2017. The 60-day delay in effective date is necessary to give agency officials the opportunity for further review of the issues of law and policy raised by this rule.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is requesting comments from its stakeholders on whether the accelerated examination program should be retained. In an August 16, 2016 notice updating the program to reflect changes in the law and examination practice, the USPTO indicated that the number of accelerated examination requests has been quite low. In particular, in each of the fiscal years 2012-2015, fewer than 250 applications were accepted into the accelerated examination program. Accordingly, the USPTO seeks feedback from its stakeholders on whether the accelerated examination program provides a sufficient benefit to the public to justify the cost of implementation. Comment Deadline: To be ensured of consideration, written comments must be received on or before March 13, 2017. No public hearing will be held. Addresses for Comments: Written comments should be sent by electronic mail addressed to AEcomments2016@uspto.gov. Comments may also be submitted by mail addressed to: Mail Stop CommentsPatents, Commissioner for Patents, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450, marked to the attention of Pinchus Laufer, Senior Legal Advisor, Office of Patent Legal Administration, Office of the Deputy Commissioner for Patent Examination Policy. Although comments may be submitted by mail, the USPTO prefers to receive comments via the Internet. The comments will be available for public inspection at the Office of the Commissioner for Patents, located in Madison East, Tenth Floor, 600 Dulany Street, Alexandria, Virginia, and will be available via the USPTO Internet Web site at https://www.uspto.gov. Because comments will be available for public inspection, information that is not desired to be made public, such as an address or phone number, should not be included in the comments.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A), is proposing an extension of an existing information collection; the Native American Tribal Insignia Database.

The Department of Commerce's Internet Policy Task Force (Task Force) will hold a conference at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) facility in Alexandria, Virginia, on December 9, 2016, to discuss current initiatives and technologies used to develop a more robust and collaborative digital marketplace for copyrighted works and to consider ways forward to help achieve that result. This follows up on an earlier public meeting held by the Task Force on April 1, 2015, which focused on how the Government can assist in facilitating the development and use of standard identifiers for all types of works of authorship.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office publishes this notice to announce that interested persons may participate at the USPTO's Alexandria, VA office for its Roundtable to be held on December 5, 2016.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issues a final rule to incorporate classification changes adopted by the Nice Agreement Concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks (Nice Agreement). These changes are effective January 1, 2017, and are listed in the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks (11th ed., ver. 2017), which is published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (Office or PTO) is proposing revisions to the materiality standard for the duty to disclose information in patent applications and reexamination proceedings (duty of disclosure) in light of a 2011 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Federal Circuit). The Office previously issued a notice of proposed rulemaking on July 21, 2011, and due to the passage of time since the comment period closed in 2011, the Office considers it appropriate to seek additional comments from our stakeholders before issuing a final rulemaking. In the current notice of proposed rulemaking, the Office is seeking public comments on the rules of practice, as revised in response to the comments received from our stakeholders.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (``USPTO'') seeks public input on patent subject matter eligibility in view of recent decisions by the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The USPTO remains interested in feedback from members of the public to improve the USPTO's existing subject matter eligibility guidance and training examples. The USPTO is also interested in facilitating a discussion among members of the public regarding the legal contours of eligible subject matter in the U.S. patent system. The USPTO will be facilitating these discussions by hosting two roundtable events. The first roundtable will be directed to receiving feedback from members of the public to improve the USPTO's existing subject matter eligibility guidance and training examples. The second roundtable will be focused on receiving feedback regarding larger questions concerning the legal contours of eligible subject matter in the U.S. patent system. The roundtables will provide a forum for discussion of the topics identified in this notice.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (``USPTO'' or ``Office'') is amending the Trademark Rules of Practice (``Trademark Rules'' or ``Rules''), in particular the rules pertinent to practice before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (``Board''), to benefit the public by providing for more efficiency and clarity in inter partes and ex parte proceedings. Certain amendments are directed to reducing the burden on the parties, to conforming the rules to current practice, to updating references that have changed, to reflecting technologic changes, and to ensuring the usage of standard, current terminology. This final rule also furthers strategic objectives of the Office to increase end-to-end electronic processing.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office published a document in the Federal Register on August 22, 2016, concerning requests for comments on a Pro Bono Survey. The Pro Bono Survey is used by the Pro Bono Advisory Council (PBAC) and the USPTO to provide information to the USPTO regarding the current status and effectiveness of each region's pro bono hub. The document contained an incorrect cost burden based on the estimate of the hourly burden rate. The hourly rate estimate should use the Bureau of Labor Statistics hourly wage for lawyers instead of the American Intellectual Property Law Association hourly wage for intellectual property lawyers.

In conformance with the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, the United States Patent and Trademark Office announces the appointment of persons to serve as members of its Performance Review Board.