[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 48 (Wednesday, March 12, 2014)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 13962-13963]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-05281]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Patent and Trademark Office
37 CFR Part 1
[Docket No.: PTO-P-2014-0004]
Extension of Deadline for Requesting To Testify at the Public
Hearings on the Proposed Changes To Require Identification of
Attributable Owner
AGENCY: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of public hearings and extension of period for
requesting to testify.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (Office)
published a notice on January 24, 2014, proposing changes to the rules
of practice to require that the attributable owner, including the
ultimate parent entity, be identified during the pendency of a patent
application and at specified times during the life of a patent, and
seeking written comments on the proposed changes. This initiative is
one of a number of executive actions issued by the Administration that
are designed to ensure issuance of the highest-quality patents, enhance
competition by providing the public with more complete information
about the competitive environment in which innovators operate, improve
market efficiency for patent rights by making patent ownership
information more readily and easily available, reduce abusive patent
litigation by helping the public defend itself against frivolous
litigation, and level the playing field for innovators. The Office
published a notice on February 20, 2014 indicating that it was
conducting two public hearings to introduce the proposed changes and
directly receive feedback from the public. The notice published on
February 20, 2014 also extended the period for comment on the proposed
rules until April 24, 2014. The Office is now extending the deadline
for requesting to testify at either public hearing until March 12,
2014.
DATES: Public Hearing Dates: The first public hearing will take place
on March 13, 2014, from 1 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) until 4 p.m.
EDT, in Alexandria, Virginia.
The second public hearing will take place on March 26, 2014, from 9
a.m. Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) until noon PDT, in San Francisco,
California.
Requests To Provide Oral Testimony: Those wishing to provide oral
testimony must submit a request to do so in writing no later than March
12, 2014. Members of the public who wish to attend solely to observe
need not submit a request to attend.
ADDRESSES: Public Hearings: The first public hearing will take place
at: Madison Auditorium North, Concourse Level, United States Patent and
Trademark Office Headquarters, 600 Dulany Street, Alexandria, Virginia
22314.
The second public hearing will take place at: The University of
California Hastings College of the Law, Louis B. Mayer Lounge, 198
McAllister Street, San Francisco, California 94102.
Requests To Provide Oral Testimony: Requests to provide oral
testimony at either public hearing must be sent by electronic mail
message over the Internet addressed to: [email protected].
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James Engel, Senior Legal Advisor
(571) 272-7725), or Erin M. Harriman, Legal Advisor (571) 272-7747),
Office of Patent Legal Administration, Office of the Deputy
Commissioner for Patent Examination Policy.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Office recently published a notice of
proposed rulemaking proposing to require the disclosure of ownership
information about patents and applications and requesting comments
about the voluntary reporting of licensing offers and commitments and
making them available online. See Changes to Require Identification of
Attributable Owner, 79 FR 4105 (Jan. 24, 2014). Under the proposed
rulemaking, the Office plans to collect information on the
``attributable owner'' of a patent or application, which includes the
titleholders, entities with rights to enforce the patent, and entities
with effective control over anyone reported in the first two
categories, called the ``ultimate parent entities.''
The Office also published a notice that it was conducting two
public hearings (the first in Alexandria, Virginia, and the second in
San Francisco, California) to introduce the proposed changes and
directly receive feedback from the public. See Notice of Public
Hearings and Extension of Comment Period on the Proposed Changes to
Require Identification of Attributable Owner, 79 FR 9677 (Feb. 20,
2014). The notice palso extended the period for comment on the proposed
rules until April 24, 2014. The Office is now extending the deadline
for requesting to testify at either public hearing until March 12,
2014, to provide interested members of the public with additional time
to request to provide testimony at this public hearing.
Members of the public who wish to provide oral testimony at either
public hearing must submit a timely request (i.e., must submit a
request to provide oral testimony no later than March 12, 2014).
Requests to provide oral testimony at either public hearing must
indicate the following information: (1) The name of the person desiring
to speak; (2) the person's contact information (telephone number and
electronic mail address); (3) the organization(s) the person
represents, if any; and (4) the hearing location where the person
prefers to speak. A person
[[Page 13963]]
must be physically present at the hearing location to provide oral
testimony; virtual testimony via telephone or webcast is not available.
Based on the requests received, an agenda of scheduled speakers will be
sent to those speaking and posted on the Office's Internet Web site at
http://www.uspto.gov. The number of speakers and time allotted to each
speaker may be limited to ensure that all persons speaking will have a
meaningful chance to do so.
Members of the public who wish to attend solely to observe need not
submit a request to attend. In addition, the public is welcome to
submit written comments in response to the proposed changes in addition
to, or lieu of, presenting oral testimony at these public hearings.
The Office also plans to make the public hearings available via Web
cast. Web cast information will be available on the Office's Internet
Web site closer to the public hearing dates. A transcript of the public
hearings will be available for viewing via the Office's Internet Web
site at http://www.uspto.gov, and 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 22314, upon request.
Dated: March 6, 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. 2014-05281 Filed 3-11-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-16-P