[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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