The USPTO and the PPAC indicated at the February 15 public hearing that they would be willing to consider comments regarding the proposed fees submitted after the February 29 due date. The PPAC report and the USPTO notice of proposed rule making (NPRM) are not expected until late June or early July of this year. If you have comments which you feel should be taken into consideration, particularly with respect to the overall fee structure under Section 10 AIA (see previous posts), you can still submit them to fee.setting@uspto.gov.
Professor Dietmar Harhoff, Ph.D., who chairs the recently formed Economic and Scientific Advisory Board of the EPO, will address the USPTO’s proposed fee structure at a European conference on US patent reform in Munich on April 3-4. This will be the first conference with the director of the USPTO, David Kappos, to address the proposed fees and new procedures under the AIA from a European point of view.
In addition to the controversial proposed fees, high-ranking members of European industry and European patent practitioners will address the impact of US-style first-to-file, post grant opposition, supplemental examination, pre-issuance submissions, prior user rights, best mode and virtual marking. I will participate as a speaker and panelist on April 4. You may click here for further information.
Robert Lelkes
AIA Monitor 