[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 28 (Friday, February 10, 2012)]
[Proposed Rules][Pages 7028-7041]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov] [FR Doc No: 2012-2535]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Patent and Trademark Office
37 CFR Part 42 [Docket No. PTO-P-2011-0086] RIN 0651-AC74
Changes To Implement Derivation Proceedings
AGENCY: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On September 16, 2011, the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act was enacted into law (Pub. L. 112-29, 125 Stat. 284 (2011)). The purpose of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act and these proposed regulations is to establish a more efficient and streamlined patent system. The preamble of this notice sets forth in detail the procedures by which the Board will conduct a new administrative proceeding called a derivation proceeding. Derivation proceedings were created to ensure that the first person to file the application is actually a true inventor. This new proceeding will ensure that a person will not be able to obtain a patent for the invention that he did not actually invent. If a dispute arises as to which of two applicants is a true inventor (as opposed to who invented it first), it will be resolved through derivation proceeding by the Board. The USPTO is engaged in a transparent process to create the procedures for derivation proceedings. The proposed rules would provide a set of rules relating to Board trial practice for derivation proceedings...
For the full text of this proposed rule, access http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-02-10/html/2012-2535.htm