Vice Chief Administrative Patent Judge

0651-AD47 202404 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions 0651 Patent and Trademark Office PTO 0600 Department of Commerce DOC Changes Under Consideration to Discretionary Institution Practices, Petition Word-Count Limits and Settlement Practices for America Invents Act Trial Proceedings Before the Patent Trial & Appeal Board

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or Office) would amend the existing consolidated set of rules relating to the USPTO trial practice for inter partes review (IPR), post-grant review (PGR), the transitional program for covered business method patents (CBM), and derivation proceedings that implemented provisions of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) providing for trials before the Office. The Office obtained public feedback on its discretionary practices through a Request for Comments issued October 2020. The Office further issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on April 21, 2023, soliciting comments regarding a range of proposals that relate to the rules and received over 14,500 comments from stakeholders in response. The proposed rule takes into account the feedback received from stakeholders.

]]> Other Significant Previously Published in The Unified Agenda Long-Term Actions No No 37 CFR 42 35 U.S.C. 2(b)(2) 35 U.S.C. 6 35 U.S.C. 21 35 U.S.C. 23 35 U.S.C. 41 35 U.S.C. 135 35 U.S.C. 311 to 316 35 U.S.C. 321 to 326 Pub. L. 112-29 Pub. L. 112-274 No ANPRM 04/21/2023 88 FR 24503 ANPRM Comment Period End 06/20/2023 NPRM To Be Determined No None No No No Michael Tierney Vice Chief Administrative Patent Judge 0651 Patent and Trademark Office PTO 571 272-9797 571 273-0053 michael.tierney@uspto.gov 600 Dulany Street, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria VA 22313-1450