By Donald Zuhn —

USPTO Seeks Comments on
Proposed Fee Schedule

Yesterday, the U.S. Patent
and Trademark Office announced
that it would be publishing a notice in the Federal Register on September 6,
2012, seeking public input on proposed patent fees.  The Office noted that:

The proposed fees are at least 22 percent lower
for a routine patent process — i.e., filing, search, examination, publication,
and issue fees — than the current fee schedule.  The current proposed fees also are lower than
those originally proposed by the USPTO in February.  The Office acted on extensive public feedback
solicited in writing and at public hearings held by the Patent Public Advisory
Committee in Alexandria, Virginia, and Sunnyvale, California.

An advance copy of the 213-page
notice to be published on Thursday can be found here.  Publication of the notice will begin a 60-day
comment period that will conclude on Monday, November 5, 2012.

USPTO Begins Inter Partes Reexamination Countdown

Last week, the U.S. Patent
and Trademark Office published a notice in the Federal Register (77 Fed. Reg.
52315)
reminding potential third-party requesters that pursuant to § 6(c)(3) of the
Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, which terminates the authority for inter partes reexamination filings
effective September 16, 2012, "any original or corrected/replacement request
for an inter partes reexamination
submitted on or after September 16, 2012, will not be accorded a filing date,
and any such request will not be granted." 
Thus, the last day for filing an inter
partes reexamination request is Saturday, September 15, 2012 (the Office
notes that September 15, 2012 is the final deadline "even though September
15, 2012, the last day to file a request, is a Saturday").  The notice advises requesters to file any
requests as soon as possible in order to give the Office time to receive,
process, and review such requests, and if necessary, notify requesters of any
deficiencies via a Notice of Failure to Comply with Inter Partes Reexamination Request Filing Requirements so that the
requester can submit a corrected/replacement request by September 15,
2012.  Most importantly, the notice
states that:

The Office will make every effort to promptly
and efficiently process and review all requests for inter partes reexamination.  It
is to be emphasized, however, that the Office cannot guarantee that a Notice of
Failure to Comply with Inter Partes
Reexamination Request Filing Requirements will be issued by the Office prior to
September 16, 2012, or even if it is so issued, that sufficient time will
remain for the mailing to reach a requester and allow for response prior to
September 16, 2012.  While,
traditionally, the Office has been setting a thirty-day period to respond to
the Notice of Failure to Comply, this will no longer be possible for any Notice
of Failure to Comply mailed after August 16, 2012, because the statute which
provides for the filing of a request for inter
partes reexamination will no longer be in effect as of September 16, 2012.

USPTO to Host AIA Webinar
on September 7

The U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office announced that
it will be holding a webinar on September 7, 2012 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm (EDT)
to discuss all aspects of the AIA. 
Participants will include USPTO Director David Kappos, Deputy Director
Terry Rea, Commissioner for Patents Peggy Focarino, General Counsel Bernie
Knight, Chief Judge James Smith, and Lead Judge Michael Tierney.  Chief Communications Officer Todd Elmer will
moderate the webinar.

The roundtable will be
available via WebEx webinar
(event number: 990 842 706; password: 123456) or via teleconference at
+1-408-600-3600 (access code: 990 842 706).

The September 7 webinar
will be the Office's second AIA event this week, with a roundtable scheduled
for tomorrow to obtain public input from organizations and individuals on
issues relating to the USPTO's proposed implementation of the first-inventor-to-file
provisions of the AIA (see "USPTO
News Briefs," August
27, 2012 for information regarding tomorrow's roundtable).