By Donald Zuhn – 

USPTO Seeks Comments on
Patent Law Harmonization

Last week, the U.S. Patent
and Trademark Office issued a notice in the Federal Register (78 Fed. Reg. 7411) seeking
comments on matters related to the harmonization of substantive patent law.  In particular, the Office indicated that it
was seeking input from the public regarding four topics:

(1) The grace period,
(2) publication of
applications,
(3) the treatment of
conflicting applications, and
(4) prior user rights.

The notice also indicated
that the Office would be holding a public hearing from 8:30 am to 12:00 pm
(EDT) on March 21, 2013, to permit members of the public to testify on the
above issues.  The hearing will be held
at the Madison Auditorium on the USPTO campus in Alexandria, Virginia.  Those wishing to testify at the hearing can request
an opportunity to do so by e-mailing IP.Policy@uspto.gov no later than February
28, 2013.  Requests to testify at must include:
(1) The name of the person desiring to testify; (2) the person's contact
information (telephone number and e-mail address); (3) the organizations the person
represents, if any; and (4) a preliminary written copy of their testimony.  The Office plans to webcast the public
hearing, and information regarding the webcast will be made available closer to
the hearing date.

With respect to the
submission of comments, the Office noted that while separate written comments
would be accepted, the Office encouraged interested stakeholders to complete an
electronic questionnaire relating to the above issues instead.  Written comments can be sent by e-mail to
IP.Policy@uspto.gov, or by regular mail addressed to:  Mail Stop OPEA, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA
22313–1450, ATTN: Bijou Mgbojikwe, with the text "Harmonization
issues" in the subject line of the e-mail or regular mailing.  The deadline for submitting written comments
is February 28, 2013.  However, in lieu
of written comments, the Office is asking the public to complete a
questionnaire that is available here.

The USPTO's effort to
obtain stakeholder input on patent law harmonization arises out of a July 2011 meeting
in Tegernsee, Germany of representatives from the patent offices of Denmark,
France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Patent Office — or the
"Tegernsee Group" — to discuss international harmonization of
substantive patent law.  The Tegernsee
Group mandated detailed studies on the four topics above and collaboratively
developed a joint harmonization questionnaire to aid in the acquisition and
analysis of stakeholder views across jurisdictions on these issues.

USPTO Releases Patent Term
Calculator

In January, the U.S. Patent
and Trademark Office announced
the release of the beta version of a patent term calculator, which allows for
the estimation of the expiration date of a utility, plant, or design
patent.  The calculator, which is in the
form of an Excel spreadsheet, can be downloaded here.  Guidance as to how to best use the tool,
including a guide for locating information to be entered into the calculator, can
be found on the patent term calculator webpage.

In its press release, the Office
notes that the calculator "provides a best estimate of a patent's
expiration date, based on a comprehensive list of factors than can be found in
USPTO records," and that "[b]efore relying on an expiration date,
individuals should always carefully inspect all relevant documents available
through the USPTO, court records and elsewhere, and consult with an attorney."

Patent Docs thanks Kery Fries of the USPTO's Office of Patent
Legal Advisor and Office of Deputy Commissioner for Patent Examination Policy
for alerting us to the new tool.

USPTO Extends PPH with IPO

Last month, the U.S. Patent
and Trademark Office announced
that the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot program with the Icelandic
Patent Office (IPO) would be extended indefinitely.  As with other PPH programs, the USPTO-IPO PPH
permits an applicant having an application whose claims have been allowed in
one of the offices to fast track the examination of an application in the other
office, such that the latter application is examined out of turn.  In particular, an applicant receiving a ruling
from either the USPTO or IPO that at least one claim in an application is
patentable may request that the other office fast track the examination of
corresponding claims in the corresponding application in that office.

The USPTO currently has
twenty-two PPH programs (full or pilot) in place with IP Australia (IP AU), the
Austrian Patent Office (APO), the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO),
China's State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO), the Colombian
Superintendence of Industry and Commerce (SIC), the Industrial Property Office
of the Czech Republic (IPOCZ), the Danish Patent and Trademark Office (DKPTO),
the European Patent Office (EPO), the National Board of Patents and
Registration of Finland (NBPR), the German Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA),
the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office (HIPO), the Icelandic Patent Office
(IPO), the Israel Patent Office (ILPO), the Japan Patent Office (JPO), the
Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), the Mexican Institute of Industrial
Property (IMPI), the Norwegian Industrial Property Office (NIPO), the Russian
Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks (ROSPATENT),
the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS), the Spanish Patent and
Trademark Office (SPTO), the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO), and
the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office (UK IPO).  The USPTO has also established twelve PCT-PPH
programs with other patent offices:  IP
AU, APO, SIPO, EPO, NBPR, ILPO, JPO, KIPO, the Nordic Patent Institute (NPI),
ROSPATENT, SPTO, and the Swedish Patent and Registration Office (PRV).  Additional information regarding the various
PPH and PCT-PPH programs, as well as links to the appropriate request forms to
be used for each program, can be found here.