United States Patent and Trademark Office November 29, 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (``USPTO'') is interested in gathering additional information on independent second opinion genetic diagnostic testing for purposes of preparing a report on the subject as required by the America Invents Act (``AIA'' or ``Act''). To assist in gathering this information, the USPTO invites the public to attend a roundtable focused on genetic diagnostic testing. Public Roundtable: The USPTO will hold a public roundtable in support of the genetic testing study. The roundtable will be held on Thursday, January 10, 2013, beginning at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) and ending at 4:00 p.m. (EST) in Alexandria, Virginia. Those wishing to share commentary at the roundtable must request an opportunity to do so in writing no later than December 20, 2012. The request must include the following: (1) The name of the person wishing to share commentary; (2) the person's contact information (telephone number and email address); (3) the organization(s) the person represents, if any; and (4) an indication of the amount of time requested for the commentary. Requests to share commentary must be submitted by email to Saurabh Vishnubhakat at saurabh.vishnubhakat@uspto.gov. Based upon the requests received, an agenda will be sent to all requesters and posted on the USPTO Internet Web site (address: www.uspto.gov/americainventsact). Speakers sharing commentary at the roundtable must submit a document explaining their position for inclusion in the record of the proceedings no later than thirty days after the roundtable. Written commentary should not exceed 25 pages using at least 12-point and double-spaced font. Because written commentary will be made available for public inspection, information that a speaker does not desire to be made public, such as a telephone number, should not be included in the written comments. The public roundtable will be available via Web cast. Information about how to access the Web cast will be posted on the USPTO's Internet Web site (address: https://www.uspto.gov/americainventsact) before the public roundtable. A transcript of the roundtable will be available on the USPTO Internet Web site (address: www.uspto.gov/americainventsact) shortly after the roundtable.