[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 108 (Tuesday, June 6, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37037-37039]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-11987]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Patent and Trademark Office
[Docket No. PTO-C-2023-0022]
Request for Comments on Southeast Regional Office and Community
Outreach Office Locations
AGENCY: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Department of
Commerce.
ACTION: Request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or
Office) is seeking information to inform the planning and design of the
USPTO satellite offices (regional offices) and newly-authorized
community outreach offices (COOs). The USPTO is also seeking
information on potential locations for a future USPTO regional office
in the southeast region of the United States (Southeast Regional Office
or SERO) and a COO in the northern New England (NNE) region (Northern
New England Community Outreach Office) that the USPTO was directed to
establish under the Unleashing American Innovators Act of 2022 (UAIA),
signed into law as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 on
December 29, 2022.
DATES: To ensure consideration, written comments must be received by 5
p.m. ET on or before July 11, 2023 and should be submitted in
accordance with the instructions in the ADDRESSES and SUPPLEMENTARY
INFOMRATION sections. No public hearing will be held.
ADDRESSES: For reasons of government efficiency, comments must be
submitted electronically by completing the form at https://iqconnect.iqfed.com/iqextranet/EForm.aspx?_cid=USPTO&_fid=100155.
Complete the required fields using the pre-formatted response form that
will allow you to comment on each topic of interest or question you
choose to address. You may enter your responses directly into the form
or cut and paste your responses from a MICROSOFT WORD[supreg] or
ADOBE[supreg] portable document format (PDF) document into the field
provided for each question. You must submit any attachments that
provide additional support to a question through the electronic form.
Attachments to the form will be accepted as ADOBE[supreg] PDF or
MICROSOFT WORD[supreg] documents. To be considered, comments must be
submitted through the electronic form. Because comments will be made
available for public inspection, information that the submitter does
not desire to make public, such as an address or phone number, should
not be included in the comments.
If submission of comments through the electronic form is not
feasible due to a lack of access to a computer and/or the internet,
please contact the USPTO using the contact information below for
special instructions regarding how to submit comments by mail or by
hand delivery, based on the public's ability to obtain access to USPTO
facilities at the time.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Shirin Bidel-Niyat, Chief of Staff,
Office of the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and
Director of the USPTO, at 571-272-8600 or [email protected].
[[Page 37038]]
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
Enabled by the 2011 America Invents Act (AIA), the USPTO currently
has four regional offices that are located in Detroit, Michigan; San
Jose, California (Silicon Valley); Denver, Colorado; and Dallas, Texas.
The purposes of the regional offices (ROs), as originally defined in
the AIA and amended by the UAIA, are to:
RO1: Better connect patent filers and innovators with the
Office, including by increasing outreach activities to individual
innovators, small businesses, veterans, low-income populations,
students, rural populations, and any geographic group of innovators
that the Director may determine to be underrepresented in patent
filings;
RO2: Enhance patent examiner and administrative patent
judge retention, including patent examiners and administrative patent
judges from economically, geographically, and demographically diverse
backgrounds;
RO3: Improve recruitment of patent examiners;
RO4: Decrease the number of patent applications waiting
for examination; and
RO5: Improve the quality of patent examination.
The USPTO has been focused on outreach and impact, and is working
on ways to better support those new to the innovation ecosystem,
bringing more people in America into the fold. The USPTO is also
studying the role of the regional offices in serving both the public
and the needs of our colleagues across the agency.
The UAIA supports the USPTO's expanded outreach efforts by
requiring the USPTO to establish, within three years of enactment
(i.e., no later than December 29, 2025), a Southeast Regional Office in
the geographic region comprised of the states of Virginia, North
Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama,
Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas. The UAIA requires the Office to
consider the following when selecting the site for the SERO:
SERO1: Number of patent-intensive industries that are
located near the site;
SERO2: How many research-intensive institutions, including
higher education institutions, are located near the site;
SERO3: Governmental and business frameworks, at both the
State and local levels, that support intellectual property-intensive
industries that are located near the site; and
SERO4: The proximity of the office to anchor institutions
(such as hospitals primarily serving veterans and institutions of
higher education), individual inventors, small businesses, veterans,
low-income populations, students, rural populations, and any geographic
group of innovators that the Director may determine to be
underrepresented in patent filings.
The Act also requires the USPTO to report out within two years on
whether additional offices are necessary to further increase
participation in the patent system by individuals who have historically
been underrepresented in patent filings.
In addition to regional offices, the UAIA requires the USPTO to
establish at least four COOs within five years from enactment of the
Act (i.e., no later than December 29, 2027). The purposes of the COOs
are to:
COO1: Further achieve the purposes described above for the
regional offices;
COO2: Develop partnerships with local community
organizations, institutions of higher education and/or research, and
businesses to create tailored community-based programs that provide
education regarding the patent system and promote the career benefits
of innovation and entrepreneurship; and
COO3: Educate prospective inventors, including individual
inventors, small businesses, veterans, low-income populations,
students, rural populations, and any geographic group of innovators
that the Director may determine to be underrepresented in patent
filings, about all public and private resources available to potential
patent applicants, including the patent pro bono programs.
The UAIA prohibits the establishment of a COO in the same state as
the principal location of the USPTO (Virginia), or in a state that has
a regional office (California, Colorado, Michigan, or Texas). The UAIA
also requires that at least one of the COOs be established in the NNE
region and serve the states of Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Under
the Act, the Office must give preference to locations where:
NNECOO1: There is at least one private institution of
higher education and at least one public institution of higher
education;
NNECOO2: There are no more than 15 registered patent
attorneys based on information from the USPTO's Office of Enrollment
and Discipline; and
NNECOO3: According to data from the 2012 Survey of
Business Owners conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, less than 45% of
the firms are owned by women, minorities, or veterans.
The USPTO will use quantitative metrics and criteria to inform the
location selection for future ROs and COOs. The Office plans to
consider the following classes of data (D) at a minimum:
D1: Business demographics
D2: Concentration of research- and IP-intensive industries
D3: Socioeconomic and demographic metrics of the regional/
local population
D4: Availability and concentration of existing business
development resources
D5: Overall geographic diversity of office locations
The USPTO welcomes input from all stakeholders on any matter that
they believe is relevant to the overall planning and design of the
USPTO RO and COOs, or the selection of locations for the new SERO or
NNECOO. Commenters are encouraged to address any or all of the
statutory considerations listed in the UAIA and summarized above, any
other considerations they believe the USPTO should consider, and the
questions listed below.
Commenting Instructions: To be considered, comments must be
submitted through the electronic form available at https://iqconnect.iqfed.com/iqextranet/EForm.aspx?_cid=USPTO&_fid=100155.
Please cite any public data that relates to or supports your
responses. If data is available but non-public, describe such data to
the extent permissible.
II. Specific Request for Comments: Planning and Design of Regional
Offices and Community Outreach Offices
With the addition of COOs to the agency's footprint, the USPTO
envisions the joint mission of the ROs and COOs to be the cultivation
and expansion of a vibrant and inclusive innovation and
entrepreneurship ecosystem supported by intellectual property across
the United States. To accomplish this mission, the offices will conduct
broad stakeholder engagement with innovators ranging from individual
inventors to multinational business entities; establish and leverage
partnerships and relationships to scale the USPTO's work; incentivize
regional innovation and entrepreneurship, especially in key emerging
areas; and promote full participation by innovators and entrepreneurs
of all backgrounds, including in rural areas and from our military, to
support U.S. innovation and jobs.
The USPTO invites responses to the following questions:
[[Page 37039]]
Regional offices:
1. Considering the envisioned mission above, what essential
services--including outreach, education, customer service, convening
space, and employee support--should a RO provide to achieve the
statutory purposes?
a. Do you prefer to have the services you identified delivered
virtually? Why or why not?
b. Do you prefer to have the services you identified delivered in
person? Why or why not?
2. What types of organizations should the RO pursue relationships
and collaborations with to better leverage and scale its services?
Community outreach offices:
3. Considering the envisioned mission above, what essential
services--including outreach, education, and customer service--should a
COO provide to achieve the statutory purposes?
a. Do you prefer to have the services you identified delivered
virtually? Why or why not?
b. Do you prefer to have the services you identified delivered in
person? Why or why not?
4. What types of organizations should the COO pursue relationships
and collaborations with to better leverage and scale its services?
5. Would you support a COO being co-located with other public
sector entities/services?
a. If so, please describe the added value of having a shared
location.
b. Which public sector entities/services would you suggest for the
shared location(s)?
c. If not, please describe the benefit of having a unique location
for a COO.
General comments regarding regional and community outreach offices:
6. What unique services should the ROs and COOs individually
provide, and how should the full range of services complement each
other?
7. Considering the potential classes of data listed in part I
above, what additional key indicators or data would support future RO
and COO site selection?
8. What else should the USPTO consider when planning for the ROs
and COOs?
III. Specific Request for Comments: Location of the Southeast Regional
Office
Given the statutory purposes and considerations of ROs, including
those specific to the SERO, as discussed in part I, and the planning
and design considerations identified in part II:
9. What data would assist in assessing potential locations for the
SERO site?
10. What is an ideal location for the SERO? Describe how this
location meets the statutory purposes and considerations.
11. What State or local government, legal, and business frameworks
that support intellectual property-intensive industries are located
near the recommended site?
12. What else should the USPTO consider when determining the ideal
location for the SERO?
IV. Specific Request for Comments: Location of the Northern New England
Community Outreach Office
Given the statutory purposes and considerations of COOs, including
those specific to the NNECOO, as discussed in part I, and the planning
and design considerations identified in part II:
13. What data would assist in assessing potential locations for the
NNECOO site?
14. What is an ideal location for the NNECOO? Describe how this
location meets the statutory purposes and considerations.
15. What community organizations/businesses near the recommended
office location could the USPTO collaborate with to help provide
intellectual property education and promote the career benefits of
innovation and entrepreneurship?
16. What else should the USPTO consider when determining the ideal
NNECOO?
While the Office welcomes and values all comments from the public
in response to this request, the comments submitted do not bind the
Office to any further actions related to the comments, and the Office
may not respond to any or every comment that is submitted. The Office
will, however, consider all written submissions.
Any and all decisions made with regard to the future locations of
the RO and COOs will be made consistent with the criteria outlined in
the UAIA and the goals and mission of the USPTO.
Katherine K. Vidal,
Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of
the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. 2023-11987 Filed 6-5-23; 8:45 am]
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