[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 184 (Tuesday, September 23, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56776-56777]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-22695]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Patent and Trademark Office

[Docket No.: PTO-P-2014-0031]


Extension of Period for Comments on Trial Proceedings Under the 
America Invents Act Before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board

AGENCY: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Commerce.

ACTION: Request for comments; extension of comment period.

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SUMMARY: The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) provided for new 
administrative trial proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal 
Board (Board). The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) 
issued a number of final rules and a trial practice guide in August and 
September of 2012 to implement the new administrative trial provisions 
of the AIA. The USPTO published a request for comments in the Federal 
Register on June 27, 2014, seeking public comment on all aspects of the 
new administrative trial proceedings, including the administrative 
trial proceeding rules and trial practice guide. The USPTO is now 
extending the period for public comment until October 16, 2014.

DATES: Comment Deadline Date: Written comments must be received on or 
before October 16, 2014.

ADDRESSES: Comments must be sent by electronic mail message over the 
Internet addressed to: [email protected].
    Electronic comments submitted in plain text are preferred, but also 
may be submitted in ADOBE[supreg] portable document format or Microsoft 
Word[supreg] format. The comments will be available for viewing via the 
USPTO'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: Scott R. Boalick, Vice Chief 
Administrative Patent Judge, Patent Trial and Appeal Board, at 571-272-
8138.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Sections 3, 6, and 18 of the AIA provided 
for the following new Board administrative trial proceedings: (1) Inter 
partes review; (2) post-grant review; (3) covered business method 
patents review; and (4) derivation proceedings. Pub. L. 112-29, 125 
Stat. 284 (2011). The USPTO issued a number of final rules and a trial 
practice guide in August and September of 2012 to implement the new 
administrative trial provisions of the AIA. See Rules of Practice for 
Trials Before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board and Judicial Review of 
Patent Trial and Appeal Board Decisions, 77 FR 48612 (Aug. 14, 2012) 
(final rule); Changes to Implement Inter Partes Review Proceedings, 
Post-Grant Review Proceedings, and Transitional Program for Covered 
Business Method Patents, 77 FR 48680 (Aug. 14, 2012) (final rule); 
Transitional Program for Covered Business Method Patents--Definitions 
of Covered Business Method Patent and Technological Invention, 77 FR 
48734 (Aug. 14, 2012) (final rule); Changes to Implement Derivation 
Proceedings, 77 FR 56068 (Sept. 11, 2012) (final rule); and Office 
Patent Trial Practice Guide, 77 FR 48756 (Aug. 14, 2012).
    In issuing the administrative trial proceeding rules and trial 
practice guide, the USPTO committed to revisiting the rules and 
practice guide once the Board and public had operated under the rules 
and practice guide for some period and had gained experience with the 
new administrative trial proceedings. The USPTO began the process of 
revisiting the AIA administrative trial proceeding rules and trial 
practice guide by engaging in a nation-wide listening tour. The USPTO 
conducted a series of roundtables in April and May of 2014, held in 
Alexandria, New York City, Chicago, Detroit, Silicon Valley, Seattle, 
Dallas, and Denver, to share information concerning the AIA 
administrative trial proceedings with the public and obtain public 
feedback on these proceedings. The USPTO also published a request for 
comments in the Federal Register on June 27, 2014, seeking public 
comment on all aspects of the new administrative trial proceedings, 
including the administrative trial proceeding rules and trial practice 
guide. See Request for Comments on Trial Proceedings Under the America 
Invents Act Before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, 79 FR 36474-77 
(June 27, 2014). The request for comments indicated that written 
comments must be received on or before September 16, 2014. See id. at 
36474. In view of stakeholder requests for

[[Page 56777]]

additional time to submit comments on the new administrative trial 
proceedings, the USPTO is now extending the period for public comment 
until October 16, 2014.

    Dated: September 17, 2014.
Michelle K. Lee,
Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Deputy 
Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. 2014-22695 Filed 9-22-14; 8:45 am]
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