[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 74 (Thursday, April 17, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21736-21738]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-08759]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Patent and Trademark Office
[Docket No. PTO-P-2014-0024]
Notice of Forum on the Guidance For Determining Subject Matter
Eligibility of Claims Reciting or Involving Laws of Nature, Natural
Phenomena, and Natural Products
AGENCY: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of public meeting.
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SUMMARY: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (Office) is
hosting a forum to receive public feedback from organizations and
individuals on its guidance memorandum titled, ``Guidance For
Determining Subject Matter Eligibility of Claims Reciting or Involving
Laws of Nature, Natural Phenomena, and Natural Products (Laws of
Nature/Natural Products Guidance),'' issued on March 4, 2014 and
available at www.uspto.gov/patents/announce/myriad-mayo.jsp. The Laws
of Nature/Natural Products Guidance implemented a new procedure to
address changes in the law relating to subject matter eligibility under
35 U.S.C. 101 in view of recent Supreme Court precedent. The forum will
be open for any member of the public to participate. The forum will
provide an opportunity for participants to present their interpretation
of the impact of Supreme Court precedent on the complex legal and
technical issues involved in subject matter eligibility analyses during
patent examination. Participants who believe that the Supreme Court
decisions could be implemented in an alternative manner from the
approach taken in the Laws of Nature/Natural Products Guidance should
use the forum to present their alternative approach and the legal
rationale for the alternative. The forum also can be used by
participants to suggest additional examples for use by the Office to
create a more complete picture of the impact of Supreme Court precedent
on subject matter eligibility.
[[Page 21737]]
DATES: Event: The forum will be held on May 9, 2014, beginning at 1:00
p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), and ending at 4:00 p.m. EDT.
Registration: Registration is required to attend the forum in
person or via webcast. Additionally, members of the public who wish to
participate in the forum as a speaker must do so by request in writing
no later than April 25, 2014. See the ``Registration Information''
section of this notice for additional details on how to register.
ADDRESSES: Event: The forum will be held in the Madison Auditorium
North on the concourse level of the Madison Building, which is located
at 600 Dulany Street, Alexandria, Virginia 22314.
Comments: Any member of the public, whether attending the forum or
not, may submit written comments for consideration by the Office. There
is no deadline for receipt of written comments. Persons submitting
written comments should note that the Office will not necessarily
provide a response. Written comments should be sent by electronic mail
addressed to myriad-mayo_2014@uspto.gov. Comments also may be
submitted by mail addressed to: Mail Stop Comments--Patents,
Commissioner for Patents, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450,
marked to the attention of Raul Tamayo. Although comments may be
submitted by mail, the Office prefers to receive comments via the
Internet.
Comments will be available via the Office's Internet Web site at
http://www.uspto.gov/patents/announce/myriad-mayo.jsp. Because comments
will be available for public inspection, information that is not
desired to be made public, such as an address or phone number, should
not be included in the comments.
Event Registration Information: There is no fee to register for the
forum, and registration will be on a first-come, first-served basis.
Members of the public who would like to be considered to participate in
the forum as a speaker must do so by request in writing no later than
April 25, 2014. Registration on the day of the forum will be permitted
for members of the public who wish solely to observe on a space-
available basis beginning 30 minutes before the forum.
To register, please send an email message to myriad-mayo_2014@uspto.gov and provide the following information: (1) Your name,
title, and if applicable, company or organization, address, phone
number, and email address; (2) whether you wish to attend in person or
via webcast; and (3) if you wish to make an oral presentation at the
forum, the specific topic you intend to address, and the approximate
desired length of your presentation. Each attendee, even if from the
same organization, must register separately.
Due to time constraints, there is the potential that not all
persons who wish to make a presentation will be accommodated. After
reviewing the list of potential speakers and the information regarding
the presentations provided in the registration, the Office plans to
select speakers in a manner that ensures that the Office is receiving a
balanced array of views. The Office will contact each selected speaker
prior to the event with the amount of time available and the
approximate time that the speaker's presentation is scheduled to begin.
The amount of time available for each presentation may be limited to
ensure that all persons selected to speak will have a meaningful chance
to do so. Speakers must send the final electronic copies of their
presentations in Microsoft PowerPoint or Microsoft Word to myriad-mayo_2014@uspto.gov by April 25, 2014, so that the presentation can be
displayed at the forum. If time permits, the Office will provide an
opportunity for persons in the audience not previously selected as
speakers to speak at the forum without a formal presentation.
The Office plans to make the forum available via webcast. Webcast
information, as well as a list of forum participants and their
associations, will be available on the Office's Internet Web site
before the forum at http://www.uspto.gov/patents/announce/myriad-mayo.jsp.
If special accommodations due to a disability are needed, please
inform the contact person(s) identified below.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information
regarding the forum should be directed to Raul Tamayo, Senior Legal
Advisor, Office of Patent Legal Administration, by telephone at 571-
272-7728, or by email to raul.tamayo@uspto.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Office issued the Laws of Nature/Natural
Products Guidance on March 4, 2014 and made it available via the
Office's Internet Web site at http://www.uspto.gov/patents/announce/myriad-mayo.jsp. The Laws of Nature/Natural Products Guidance states
that it is for use in subject matter eligibility determinations of all
claims (i.e., machine, composition, manufacture, and process claims)
reciting or involving laws of nature/natural principles, natural
phenomena, and/or natural products. The Laws of Nature/Natural Products
Guidance addresses the impact of Association for Molecular Pathology v.
Myriad Genetics, Inc.\1\ (Myriad) on the Supreme Court's long-standing
``rule against patents on naturally occurring things,'' as expressed in
its earlier precedent including Diamond v. Chakrabarty \2\
(Chakrabarty), and Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus
Laboratories, Inc.\3\ (Mayo). Links to copies of these Supreme Court
decisions, as well as a link to the Supreme Court's decision in Funk
Brothers Seed Co. v. Kalo Inoculant Co.,\4\ are available at http://www.uspto.gov/patents/announce/myriad-mayo.jsp.
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\1\ 569 U.S. ----, 133 S. Ct. 2107, 106 USPQ2d 1972 (2013).
\2\ 447 U.S. 303 (1980).
\3\ 566 U.S. ----, 132 S. Ct. 1289, 101 USPQ2d 1961 (2012).
\4\ 333 U.S. 127 (1948).
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Since releasing the Laws of Nature/Natural Products Guidance, the
Office has provided a first round of training for the examiners in
Technology Centers (TCs) most likely to be impacted by the Laws of
Nature/Natural Products Guidance (e.g., TC 1600 and 1700). The slides
used to train the examiners are available at http://www.uspto.gov/patents/announce/myriad-mayo.jsp. The Office is currently working on
developing a second round of more in-depth examiner training. In
addition, the Office established an email box (myriad-mayo_2014@uspto.gov) for members of the public to provide feedback on any
aspect of the Laws of Nature/Natural Products Guidance rollout,
including the Laws of Nature/Natural Products Guidance document itself
and the training slides.
The forum will provide a more direct opportunity for members of the
public to present their interpretation of the impact of the Supreme
Court's decisions in, e.g., Myriad, Mayo, Chakrabarty, and Funk on the
complex legal and technical issues involved in subject matter
eligibility analyses during patent examination. The Office would like
for members of the public who believe that the Supreme Court decisions
could be implemented in an alternative manner from the approach taken
in the Laws of Nature/Natural Products Guidance to use the forum to
present their alternative approach and the legal rationale for the
alternative. The forum also can be used by the public to suggest
additional examples for use by the Office to create a more complete
picture of the impact of Supreme Court precedent on subject matter
eligibility. The Office will carefully consider all feedback it
receives.
[[Page 21738]]
Dated: April 11, 2014.
Michelle K. Lee,
Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Deputy
Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. 2014-08759 Filed 4-16-14; 8:45 am]
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