USPTO Leadership

• Drew Hirshfeld is still performing the functions and duties of Director. President Biden nominated Kathi Vidal to be the next Director.

USPTO News

• The USPTO has terminated engagement with officials from Russia’s Federal Service for Intellectual Property (commonly known as Rospatent), the Eurasian Patent Organization, and the national intellectual property office of Belarus in response to recent events in Ukraine.
• Effective March 11, the USPTO removed special status from any applications granted that status under the Global Patent Prosecution Highway (GPPH) program based on work performed at Rospatent and suspended grant of any such requests.
• On March 17, the USPTO released the third edition of the report on Intellectual Property and the U.S. Economy. The report analyzes intellectual property (“IP”) use and the relationship of IP to economic indicators. The report also includes a new section that covers demographic information of workers in IP-intensive industries.
• The USPTO joined other intellectual property offices to issue a joint statement “commit[ting] to work together to support increased contributions from women in developing, commercializing, and distributing innovations and creative works in order to achieve a more sustainable and hope driven future.” According to the USPTO’s News & Updates page, “[t]he statement underscores the importance of supporting women in the IP realm and how advancing inclusion will pave the way for a better tomorrow.”
• On March 24, the USPTO launched the PTAB Pro Bono Program in collaboration with the PTAB Bar Association. Under the Program, the PTAB Bar Association will match volunteer patent practitioners with eligible inventors in search of assistance with ex parte appeals before the PTAB. Practitioners can volunteer by filling out an application form.

• Drew Hirschfeld, performing the functions and duties of Director, highlighted the USPTO’s Patent Pro Bono Program in a blog post on the Director’s Forum.

• The USPTO postponed the deadline for Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) and TEAS international (TEASi) users to verify their identities, which would have gone into effect on April 9, 2022. The USPTO has not yet announced a new deadline.
• On April 19, 20, and 21, the USPTO will host the first part of a virtual Instructor-Led Training (vILT) series detailing how examiners approach obviousness rejections. Participants can register here.
• The PTAB will host an AIA oral argument encore webinar on May 20, 2022 as a part of the Legal Experience and Advancement Program (LEAP).

Legislation

• Senators Thom Tillis, Chris Coons, Tom Cotton, Mazie Hirono, and Rick Scott introduced the Defending American Courts Act which, among other things, would require the Director of the USPTO to decline to institute Inter Partes Review or Post Grant Review where the petitioner, real party in interest, or privity of the petitioner previously sought to enforce an ‘anti-suit injunction’ in any tribunal in the United States.

Selected Federal Circuit Decisions

• Hunting Titan, lnc. v. DynaEnergetics Europe GmbH, Nos. 2020-2163, 2020-2191 (Fed. Cir. March 24, 2022) (affirming the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s decision finding the challenged claims of the original patent unpatentable and the “Precedential Opinion Panel’s vacatur of the [Patent Trial and Appeal] Board’s decision denying [a] motion to amend” based on a ground raised by the Board sua sponte).

Notices, Guidance, and Requests

• Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment Request; Patents External Quality Survey, 87 Fed. Reg. 50 (Mar. 15, 2022) [Written comment period closes May 16, 2022].  
• Third Extension of the Modified COVID-19 Prioritized Examination Pilot Program for Patent Applications, 87 Fed. Reg. 58 (Mar. 25, 2022) (extending COVID-19 Prioritized Examination Pilot Program through June 30, 2022).
• Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment Request; International Work Sharing Program, 87 Fed. Reg. 58 (Mar. 25, 2022) [Written comment period extended to April 24, 2022].

Final Rules

• There are no new final rules.

Interim Rules

• There are no interim rules.

Proposed Rules

• There are no proposed rules.

PTAB Decisions

• New Precedential PTAB Decisions

• There are no new informative PTAB decisions.

• New Informative PTAB Decisions

• There are no new informative PTAB decisions.

New Requests for POP Review

• There are no new requests for POP Review.