By Donald Zuhn --
On March 31, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced that it was implementing a new e-Petitions system and that eight different petitions would initially be made available through the system. The e-Petitions system automates the petitions process so that applicants can input the requisite data into a secure web interface and receive a decision automatically, thereby eliminating the time that would ordinarily be spent having a petition docketed, decided, and uploaded into Public PAIR (Patent Application Information Retrieval). USPTO Director David Kappos stated that the e-Petitions system was a response to complaints from stakeholders that "it takes too long to get a decision from the Petitions Office."
The eight petitions that are being made available through the system include:
1. Withdrawal of attorney
2. Withdraw from issue after payment of the issue fee
3. Withdraw from issue after payment of the issue fee under 37 C.F.R. § 1.313(c)
4. Withdraw from issue after payment of the issue fee under 37 C.F.R. § 1.313(c)(1) or (2) when patent number is assigned
5. Withdraw from issue under 37 C.F.R. § 1.313(c)(3)
6. Petition to accept late payment of issue fee -- unintentional standard under 37 C.F.R. §§ 1.155(c) or 1.316
7. Petitions for revival under 37 C.F.R. § 1.137(f)
8. Petitions to revive an abandoned application under 37 C.F.R. § 1.137(b) for continuity purposes only
The Office noted that the eight petitions above account for approximately one-third of the work of the Petitions Office, and join two other types of patent petitions that are already decided electronically, i.e., petitions to make special on the basis of age and petitions to accept unintentionally delayed payment of the maintenance fee. According to a FAQs webpage on web-based e-Petitions, the Office plans to monitor the response to the eight initial petitions before converting other petitions to the web-based e-Petition format.
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