[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 195 (Friday, October 7, 2011)]
[Notices][Pages 62388-62389][FR Doc No: 2011-26154]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Notice of Public Hearing and Request for Comments on the Study of Prior User Rights
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is interested in gathering information on patent prior user rights for purposes of preparing a report on the subject as required by the America Invents
Act. In particular, the USPTO seeks information about the following as specified in the America Invents Act: (1) Comparison(s) between the patent laws of the United States and the laws of other industrialized countries; (2) the effect of prior user rights on innovation rates; (3) the correlation, if any, between prior user rights and start-up enterprises as well as the ability to attract venture capital to start new companies; (4) the effect of prior user rights, if any, on small businesses, universities, and individual inventors; (5) legal and constitutional issues with placing trade secret law in patent law; and (6) whether or not the change to a first-to-file patent system creates any particular need for prior user rights. To assist in gathering this information, the USPTO is holding a public hearing at which interested members of the public are invited to testify on the issues outlined above and in the supplementary information section of this notice.
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Those wishing to present oral testimony at the hearing must request an opportunity to do so in writing by e-mail to IP.Policy@uspto.gov no later than October 18, 2011. Requests to testify at the hearing must indicate the following information: (1) The name of the person desiring to testify; (2) the person's contact information (telephone number and electronic mail address); and (3) the organization(s) the person represents, if any; and (4) a preliminary written copy of their testimony. Based on the requests received, an agenda of scheduled testimony will be sent to testifying respondents, and posted on the USPTO Internet Web site (address: http://www.uspto.gov/americainventsact).
Speakers selected to provide testimony at the hearing should provide a final written copy of their testimony for inclusion in the record of the proceedings no later than October 21, 2011.
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The USPTO plans to make the public hearing available via webcast. Webcast information will be available on the USPTO's Internet Web site (address: http://www.uspto.gov/americainventsact) before the public hearing.
To see the complete text of this comment request including sample questions to assist in gathering information, access: http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=2011_register&docid=2011-26154.