[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 107 (Monday, June 6, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32761-32762]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-11177]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Patent and Trademark Office

[Docket No.: 2003-P-018]


Notice of Availability of and Request for Comments on Green Paper 
Concerning Restriction Practice

AGENCY: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Commerce.

ACTION: Request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has 
established a 21st Century Strategic Plan to transform the USPTO into a 
quality focused, highly productive, responsive organization supporting 
a market-driven intellectual property system. As a part of this plan, 
the USPTO is conducting a study of its restriction practice. As part of 
this study, the Office requested public comments to help guide the 
study. After careful consideration of the public comments and an 
internal review, the USPTO has prepared a ``Green Paper'' describing 
and evaluating four options to reform restriction practice suggested by 
various members of the public. Prior to considering the desirability of 
drafting proposed legislation in a ``White Paper'' on reforming 
restriction practice, the USPTO is seeking public comment on the Green 
Paper.

DATES: Comment Deadline Date: To be ensured of consideration, written 
comments must be received on or before August 5, 2005. No public 
hearing will be held.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent by electronic mail message over the 
Internet addressed to: [email protected]. Comments may also be 
submitted by mail addressed to: Mail Stop Comments--Patents, 
Commissioner for Patents, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA, 22313-1450, or 
by facsimile to (571) 273-7735, marked to the attention of Robert A.

[[Page 32762]]

Clarke. Although comments may be submitted by mail or facsimile, the 
Office prefers to receive comments via the Internet. If comments are 
submitted by mail, the Office prefers that the comments be submitted on 
a DOS formatted 3\1/2\ inch disk accompanied by a paper copy.
    Comments may also be sent by electronic mail message over the 
Internet via the Federal eRulemaking Portal. See the Federal 
eRulemaking Portal Web site (http://www.regulations.gov) for additional 
instructions on providing comments via the Federal eRulemaking Portal.
    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 through 
anonymous file transfer protocol (ftp) via the Internet (address: 
http://www.uspto.gov). Because comments will be made 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert A. Clarke, Senior Legal 
Advisor, Office of Patent Legal Administration, Office of the Deputy 
Commissioner for Patent Examination Policy, by telephone at (571) 272-
7735, by mail addressed to: Mail Stop Comments--Patents, Commissioner 
for Patents, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA, 22313-1450, or by facsimile 
to (571) 273-7735, marked to the attention of Robert A. Clarke, or 
preferably via e-mail addressed to: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The USPTO established a 21st Century 
Strategic Plan to transform the USPTO into a more quality-focused, 
highly productive, responsive organization supporting a market-driven 
intellectual property system. As part of this plan, the USPTO stated it 
would conduct a study of the changes needed to implement a Patent 
Cooperation Treaty (PCT) style Unity of Invention standard in the 
United States. Prior to starting a detailed study, the USPTO published 
a notice seeking public comment on a number of issues to help guide the 
scope and content of a study on the adoption of a Unity of Invention 
standard in the United States. See Request for Comments on the Study of 
the Changes Needed to Implement a Unity of Invention Standard in the 
United States, 68 FR 27536 (May 20, 2003), 1271 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office 
98 (June 17, 2003). In response to that notice, the USPTO received 
twenty-six (26) public comments. Those public comments were posted on 
the USPTO's Internet Web site.
    The USPTO posted a notice summarizing the general nature of the 
comments received as well as the next steps in the study in November of 
2004. See Summary of Public Comments and the Restriction Reform Options 
to be Studied by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, 1277 
Off. Gaz. Pat. Office 94 (Dec. 16, 2003) (Notice). The Notice indicated 
that as a result of the comments received, the USPTO would conduct a 
detailed business-case analysis on four restriction reform options and 
prepare a revised timeline to complete the study. The USPTO also 
replaced the public comments and schedule to implement a PCT-style 
Unity of Invention standard with the Notice.
    The USPTO study included a review of hundreds of applications under 
each of the studied options including how examination practices would 
be impacted. This study also included review of the workflow, pendency 
and overall ability of the USPTO to appropriately implement each of the 
standards. The interim results of the study are provided in the Green 
Paper for which we are requesting comment via this notice. The Green 
Paper is available on the USPTO's Internet Web site (http://www.uspto.gov).

    Dated: May 27, 2005.
Jon W. Dudas,
Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of 
the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. 05-11177 Filed 6-3-05; 8:45 am]
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