The United States Patent and Trademark Office will once again take to the road in the Fall of 2012 to discuss implementation of the America Invents Act (AIA). The USPTO is planning to host eight (8) roadshows during September 2012 to share information about new final rules implementing provisions of the America Invents Act that become effective on September 16, 2012. The Roadshows are free and open to the public, and pre-registration is not required. Nevertheless, seating will be limited and is available only on a first-come, first-served basis. The USPTO has posted the agenda
for these Roadshows on their website.
The USPTO will webcast the roadshows during the first week (from Minneapolis, Alexandria, and Los Angeles) and post videos of those events on the micro-site. Copies of any written materials will also be made available on the USPTO micro-site devoted to the AIA Roadshows.
While attorneys are certainly invited to attend these Roadshow presentations, no CLE credit is available for attending any Roadshow event.
On June 20, 2012, when Director Kappos testified to the U.S. Senate about AIA implementation efforts he explained that the final rules necessary to implement the next round of AIA changes will be published on or before August 16, 2012. The final rules which we await relate to provisions for inventor’s oath/declaration, preissuance submissions, citation of patent owner statements, supplemental examination, inter partes review, post grant review and covered business method review.
The USPTO will kick off its roadshow series in Minneapolis and end in New York City with stops in Atlanta, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, and at its campus in Alexandria, Virginia. The full schedule
is:
- Monday, September 10, 2012 in Minneapolis, MN
- Wednesday, September 12, 2012 in Alexandria, VA
- Friday, September 14, 2012 in Los Angeles, CA
- Monday, September 17, 2012 in Denver, CO
- Thursday, September 20 in Detroit, MI
- Monday, September 24, 2012 in Atlanta, GA
- Wednesday, September 26, 2012 in Houston, TX
- Friday, September 28 in New York, NY
At these events, the USPTO will explain the aforementioned final rules and answer questions from those in attendance. The USPTO will also discuss proposed rules for the first-inventor-to-file provision. The Office says they will be publishing proposed rules on first-to-file sometime before the end of Summer 2012. As with previous rules proposals there will be a comment period before the rules are made final. The first-to-invent provisions of the AIA take effect on March 16, 2013.
To stay up to date on the USPTO implementation efforts you can visit the USPTO’s AIA Implementation micro-site.
Tags: AIA Roadshows, Alexandria, America Invents Act, Atlanta, Denver, Detroit, Director Kappos, Gene Quinn, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, U.S. Senate, USPTO
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