[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 12 (Friday, January 17, 2014)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 3146-3147]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-00729]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Patent and Trademark Office

37 CFR Parts 1, 3, 5 and 11

[Docket No.: PTO-P-2013-0025]
RIN 0651-AC87


Extension of the Comment Period for Notice of Proposed Rulemaking 
on Changes To Implement the Hague Agreement Concerning International 
Registration of Industrial Designs

AGENCY: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Department of 
Commerce.

[[Page 3147]]


ACTION: Notice of extension of public comment period.

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SUMMARY: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (``USPTO'' or 
``Office'') published a notice of proposed rulemaking to change the 
rules of practice to implement Title I of the Patent Law Treaties 
Implementation Act of 2012 (``PLTIA''). Title I of the PLTIA amends the 
patent laws to implement the provisions of the 1999 Geneva Act of the 
Hague Agreement and is to take effect on the entry in force of the 
Hague Agreement with respect to the United States. On January 14, 2014, 
the Office conducted a public forum at the Alexandria, Virginia 
headquarters to discuss the proposed rules. The USPTO is extending the 
comment period in order to provide interested members of the public 
with additional time to submit written comments to the USPTO.

DATES: The comment deadline announced in the proposed rule published on 
November 29, 2013 (78 FR 71870) has been extended. To be ensured of 
consideration, written comments must be received on or before Tuesday, 
February 4, 2014.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent by electronic mail message over the 
Internet addressed to: [email protected]. Comments also may 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 Boris Milef, Senior PCT Legal Examiner, 
Office of PCT Legal Administration.
    Additionally, comments may 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 the Office may easily share such comments with the 
public. Electronic comments in plain text format are preferred, but 
electronic comments in ADOBE[supreg] portable document format or 
MICROSOFT WORD[supreg] format may be submitted. Comments not submitted 
electronically should be submitted on paper in a format that 
facilitates convenient digital scanning into ADOBE[supreg] portable 
document format.
    Written 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 at http://www.uspto.gov and at 
http://www.regulations.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: David Gerk, Office of Policy and 
International Affairs, by phone 571-272-9300, by email at 
[email protected] or by mail addressed to: Mail Stop OPIA, United 
States Patent and Trademark Office, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, Virginia 
22313-1450, ATTN: David Gerk.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Office published proposed rules to 
change the rules of practice to implement Title I of the PLTIA. See 
Changes To Implement the Hague Agreement Concerning International 
Registration of Industrial Designs, 78 FR 71870 (Nov. 29, 2013). That 
notice of proposed rulemaking required public comments to be submitted 
to the Office by January 28, 2014. The Office now extends the comment 
deadline for the notice of proposed rulemaking to February 4, 2014, in 
order to provide the public with additional time to submit comments.

    Dated: January 11, 2014.
Margaret A. Focarino,
Commissioner for Patents, Performing the functions and duties of the 
Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of 
the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. 2014-00729 Filed 1-16-14; 8:45 am]
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