[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 159 (Thursday, August 16, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49427-49428]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-20239]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

United States Patent and Trademark Office

[Docket No. PTO-P-2012-0033]


Notice of Roundtable on the Implementation of the First Inventor 
to File Provisions of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act

AGENCY: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of public meeting.

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SUMMARY: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) 
published a notice of proposed rulemaking and a notice of proposed 
examination guidelines to implement the first-inventor-to-file 
provisions of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA). The USPTO 
plans to conduct a roundtable to obtain public input from organizations 
and individuals on issues relating to the USPTO's proposed 
implementation of the first-inventor-to-file provisions of the AIA. The 
USPTO plans to invite a number of roundtable participants from among 
patent user groups, practitioners, industry, independent inventor 
organizations, academia, and government. The roundtable also is open 
for any member of the public to provide input.

DATES: The roundtable will be held on Thursday, September 6, 2012, 
beginning at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), and ending at 4:30 
p.m. EDT.
    The deadline for receipt of written comments in response to the 
notice of proposed rulemaking and notice of proposed examination 
guidelines to implement the first-inventor-to-file provisions of the 
AIA is October 5, 2012.

ADDRESSES: The roundtable will be held at the USPTO in the Madison 
Auditorium on the concourse level of the Madison Building, which is 
located at 600 Dulany Street, Alexandria, Virginia 22314.
    Comments on the notice of proposed rulemaking should be sent by 
electronic mail message over the Internet addressed to: [email protected]. Comments may also be submitted by postal mail 
addressed to: Mail Stop Comments--Patents, Commissioner for Patents, 
P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450, marked to the attention of 
Susy Tsang-Foster, Legal Advisor, Office of Patent Legal 
Administration.
    Comments on the proposed examination guidelines 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, marked to the attention of Mary C. 
Till, Senior Legal Advisor, Office of Patent Legal Administration, 
Office of the Deputy Commissioner for Patent Examination Policy.
    Comments on the notice of proposed rulemaking and the proposed 
examination guidelines 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.
    Although comments may be submitted by postal mail, the Office 
prefers to receive comments by electronic mail message over the 
Internet because sharing comments with the public is more easily 
accomplished. Electronic comments are preferred to be submitted in 
plain text, but also may be submitted in ADOBE[supreg] portable 
document format or MICROSOFT WORD[supreg] format. Comments not 
submitted electronically should be

[[Page 49428]]

submitted on paper in a format that facilitates convenient digital 
scanning into ADOBE[supreg] portable document format.
    The comments will be available for public inspection at the Office 
of the Commissioner for Patents, currently located in Madison East, 
Tenth Floor, 600 Dulany Street, Alexandria, Virginia. Comments also 
will be available for viewing via the Office's Internet Web site 
(http://www.uspto.gov). Because comments will be made available for 
public inspection, information that the submitter does not desire to 
make public, such as an address or phone number, should not be included 
in the comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Janet Gongola, Patent Reform 
Coordinator, by telephone at (571) 272-8734, or by electronic mail 
message at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The AIA was enacted into law on September 
16, 2011. Public Law 112-29, 125 Stat. 284 (2011). Section 3 of the AIA 
amends the patent laws to: (1) Convert the United States patent system 
from a ``first to invent'' system to a ``first inventor to file'' 
system; (2) eliminate the requirement that a prior public use or sale 
activity be ``in this country'' to be a prior art activity; (3) treat 
U.S. patents and U.S. patent application publications as prior art as 
of their earliest effective filing date, regardless of whether the 
earliest effective filing date is based upon an application filed in 
the U.S. or in another country; and (4) treat commonly owned patents 
and patent application publications, or those resulting from a joint 
research agreement, as being by the same inventive entity for purposes 
of 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103. The changes in section 3 of the AIA take 
effect on March 16, 2013.
    The USPTO published a notice of proposed rulemaking and notice of 
proposed examination guidelines on July 26, 2012, to implement the 
first-inventor-to-file provisions of the AIA. See Changes to Implement 
the First Inventor to File Provisions of the Leahy-Smith America 
Invents Act, 77 FR 43742 (July 26, 2012), and Examination Guidelines 
for Implementing the First-Inventor-to-File Provisions of the Leahy-
Smith America Invents Act, 77 FR 43759 (July 26, 2012). The notice of 
proposed rulemaking proposes changes to the rules of practice in title 
37 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) for consistency with, and 
to address the examination issues raised by, the changes in section 3 
of the AIA. The proposed examination guidelines set out the Office's 
interpretation of 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 as amended by the AIA, and 
advise the public and the Patent Examining Corps on how the changes to 
35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 in the AIA impact the provisions of the Manual of 
Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP) pertaining to 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103.
    As a part of the implementation of the AIA, the USPTO is conducting 
a roundtable at the USPTO to obtain public input from organizations and 
individuals on issues relating to the USPTO's implementation of the 
first-inventor-to-file provisions of the AIA. The USPTO plans to invite 
participants from patent user groups, practitioners, industry, 
independent inventor organizations, academia, and government to provide 
input. The roundtable likewise is open to any member of the public to 
provide input. The USPTO will provide an agenda prior to the roundtable 
in order to focus the discussion and enhance the efficiency of the 
proceedings. The agenda will be posted on the USPTO's Internet Web site 
at www.uspto.gov/AmericaInventsAct. The USPTO plans to make the 
roundtable available via Web cast. Web cast information will be 
available before the roundtable on the USPTO's Internet Web site at 
www.uspto.gov/AmericaInventsAct.

    Dated: August 3, 2012.
David J. Kappos,
Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of 
the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. 2012-20239 Filed 8-15-12; 8:45 am]
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