[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 223 (Wednesday, November 18, 2020)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 73437-73438]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-25490]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Patent and Trademark Office
37 CFR Part 42
[Docket No. PTO-C-2020-0055]
Request for Comments on Discretion To Institute Trials Before the
Patent Trial and Appeal Board
AGENCY: Patent Trial and Appeal Board, United States Patent and
Trademark Office, Department of Commerce.
ACTION: Request for comments; extension of comment period.
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SUMMARY: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or
Office) published a request for comments in the Federal Register on
October 20, 2020, seeking public comment on considerations for
instituting trials before the Office under the Leahy Smith America
Invents Act (AIA). Through this document, the USPTO is extending the
period for public comment until December 3, 2020.
DATES: Comment date: Written comments must be received on or before
December 3, 2020.
ADDRESSES: For reasons of government efficiency, comments must be
submitted through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at
www.regulations.gov. To submit comments via the portal, enter docket
number PTO-C-2020-0055 on the home page and click ``search.'' The site
will provide a search results page listing all
[[Page 73438]]
documents associated with this docket. Find a reference to this Request
for Comments and click on the ``Comment Now!'' icon, complete the
required fields, and enter or attach your comments. Attachments to
electronic comments will be accepted in ADOBE[supreg] portable document
format or MICROSOFT WORD[supreg] format. 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.
Visit the Federal eRulemaking Portal (www.regulations.gov) for
additional instructions on providing comments via the portal. If
electronic submission of comments is not feasible due to a lack of
access to a computer and/or the internet, please contact the USPTO
using the contact information below for special instructions regarding
how to submit comments by mail or by hand delivery, based on the
public's ability to obtain access to USPTO facilities at the time.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Scott C. Weidenfeller, Vice Chief
Administrative Patent Judge, by telephone at 571-272-9797.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On October 20, 2020, the USPTO published a
document in the Federal Register requesting public input on
considerations for instituting trials before the Office under the
Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA). See Request for Comments on
Discretion to Institute Trials Before the Patent Trial and Appeal
Board, 85 FR 66502 (Oct. 20, 2020). In that document, the USPTO
indicated it is considering the codification of its current policies
and practices, or the modification thereof, through rulemaking and
wished to gather public comments on the Office's current approach and
on various other approaches suggested to the Office by stakeholders. To
assist in gathering public input, the USPTO published questions, and
sought focused public comments, on appropriate considerations for
instituting AIA trials. The document requested public comments on or
before November 19, 2020.
Through this document, the USPTO is extending the period for public
comment until December 3, 2020, to give interested members of the
public additional time to submit comments. All other information and
instructions to commenters provided in the October 20, 2020, notice
remain unchanged. Previously submitted comments do not need to be
resubmitted.
Andrei Iancu,
Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of
the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. 2020-25490 Filed 11-17-20; 8:45 am]
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