<div dir="ltr"><div>Feel free to forward this email.<br></div><div><br></div><div>The PTO is running a notice-and-comment period for patent applications (initial, continuation, etc) The comment period runs to 30 days from 3/28, which might be 3/27 or 3/29 depending on how you count).<br></div><div><br></div><div>The subject matter is any requirement of the Paperwork Reduction Act --</div><div> -- anything that is more burdensome than necessary
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="2"> (44 U.S<span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">.C.
<a name="s3506c_2_A_60_day_notice"></a><a name="s3506c_2_A_60_day_notice_except_NPRM"></a><a name="s3506c_2_60_day_notice"><span style="background-position:0% 0%;background-repeat:repeat;background-image:none;background-size:auto;background-origin:padding-box;background-clip:border-box"><span><span>§ 3506(c)(2)</span></span></span></a><span><span><span style="background-position:0% 0%;background-repeat:repeat;background-image:none;background-size:auto;background-origin:padding-box;background-clip:border-box">(A)(iii)</span></span></span></span></font></span>; 5 C.F.R. § 1320.5(d)(1)(i) )</div><div> -- anything that is more burdensome because of inappropriate information technology</div><div> -- burden that the PTO imposed without going through the procedures required by the Paperwork Reduction Act</div><div> -- the PTO requires something that is not "necessary for the proper performance of the agency"<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="2"> (44 U.S<span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">.C.
<a name="s3506c_2_A_60_day_notice"></a><a name="s3506c_2_A_60_day_notice_except_NPRM"></a><a name="s3506c_2_60_day_notice"><span style="background-position:0% 0%;background-repeat:repeat;background-image:none;background-size:auto;background-origin:padding-box;background-clip:border-box"><span><span>§ 3506(c)(2)</span></span></span></a><span><span><span style="background-position:0% 0%;background-repeat:repeat;background-image:none;background-size:auto;background-origin:padding-box;background-clip:border-box">(A)(i))</span></span></span></span></font></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="2"><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><span><span><span style="background-position:0% 0%;background-repeat:repeat;background-image:none;background-size:auto;background-origin:padding-box;background-clip:border-box"> -- the PTO's proposed rule</span></span></span></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><span><span><span style="background-position:0% 0%;background-repeat:repeat;background-image:none;background-size:auto;background-origin:padding-box;background-clip:border-box"><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"> is not "</span></span></span></span></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">i<span style="background-position:0% 0%;background-repeat:repeat;background-image:none;background-size:auto;background-origin:padding-box;background-clip:border-box">mplemented in ways consistent
and compatible, <b>to the maximum extent practicable</b>, with the existing reporting
and recordkeeping practices of those who are to respond</span></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">" (</span></font></span>44 U.S.C. § 3506(c)(3)(E) ; 5 C.F.R. § 1320.9(e) )</div><div> -- a PTO rule that requires something "unnecessarily duplicative"</div><div> -- a PTO rule that " shift[s] disproportionate costs or burdens onto the public "
(5 C.F.R. § 1320.5(d)(1)(iii)
</div><div>
<div><br></div><div>The following topics are within the scope fo initial patent applications for this comment period, and are fair game --</div><div> -- the DOCX rule</div><div> -- Patent Center<br></div><div> -- the additional divisionals that have to be filed because the PTO's stealth amendment to MPEP Chapter 800 <br></div></div><div><br></div><div>The Federal Register Notice is here --</div><div> <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2024-03-28/pdf/2024-06592.pdf">https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2024-03-28/pdf/2024-06592.pdf</a></div><div>The document we're commenting on is here <br></div><div> <a href="https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/DownloadDocument?objectID=141210700">https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/DownloadDocument?objectID=141210700</a></div><div>You can post your comment at the blue "Comment" rectangle about two inches from the top here<br></div><div> <a href="https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAViewICR?ref_nbr=202304-0651-001">https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAViewICR?ref_nbr=202304-0651-001</a></div><div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:24pt 0in 0.0001pt"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="2"><b>Basics of the Paperwork Reduction Act.</b><span> </span>An agency can only collect paperwork if it
has a clearance from OMB.<span> </span>That clearance
is called a “control number.”<span> </span>The
control number for everything relating to patent applications is 0651-0032, <span></span></font></span><a href="https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAViewDocument?ref_nbr=202304-0651-001">https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAViewDocument?ref_nbr=202304-0651-001</a><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="2"><span> </span>(“0651” is the PTO’s agency number for all
rulemaking actions at OMB, and “0651-0032” is the control number that gives
approval for all stuff relating to new patent application filings.)</font></span></p><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="2">
</font></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt 0in 0.0001pt"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="2">A Paperwork Reduction Act approval
runs in two stages.<span> </span>First, there’s a
60-day notice and comment period where the comments go to the agency.<span> </span>Then the agency
takes all the letters, and makes a submission to OMB (including the comment
letters verbatim—no misparaphrasing!), and gives a second 30-day comment period.<span> </span>In this second comment period, all legal
requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act are fair game.<span> </span>OMB approves or disapproves.<span> </span>The two stages are in 5 C.F.R. § 1320.8 and
.9 <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/5/1320.9" style="color:blue;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/5/1320.9</a><span><br></span></font></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt 0in 0.0001pt"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="2"><span>This is the second comment period, in which the comments go to OMB, with very little filtering by the PTO.</span></font></span></p><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"></span><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="2"></font></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt 0in 0.0001pt"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="2">For example, the DOCX rule violates the Paperwork Reduction Act for the following reasons:</font></span></p><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="2">
</font></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:6pt 0in 0.0001pt 0.25in"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="2"><b>*</b>
By law, an agency may not request “unnecessarily duplicative” submissions.<span> </span>44 U.S.C. § 3506(c)(3)(B); 5 C.F.R. §
1320.5(d)(1)(ii).<span> </span>If the PTO makes that
their lead proposal, it’s a setup for failure.</font></span></p><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="2">
</font></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:6pt 0in 0.0001pt 0.25in"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="2"><b>*</b>
An agency may not “shift[ ] disproportionate costs or burdens onto the public.”<span> </span>If we submit a DOCX and a PDF, of course the
PTO is going to use the DOCX, and just put the PDF in the file.<span> </span>It’ll be entirely our risk and our cost to
request correction.<span> </span>The PTO can’t ask
for information known to be inherently unreliable, knowing that they’re going
to rely on it, and then shift costs to the public to fix the PTO’s errors.</font></span></p><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="2">
</font></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:6pt 0in 0.0001pt 0.25in"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="2"><b>*</b>
In February 2023, we sent a letter explaining why
a two-submission PDF+DOCX approach is a technological fail—<a href="https://downloads.regulations.gov/PTO-P-2023-0031-0008/attachment_1.pdf" style="color:blue;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">https://downloads.regulations.gov/PTO-P-2023-0031-0008/attachment_1.pdf</a>
at pages 149-155 (search for “February 14, 2023”)</font></span></p><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="2">
</font></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:6pt 0in 0.0001pt 0.25in"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="2">* DOCX is not a “voluntary consensus”
standard (it <b><i>is</i></b> a “non-government standard”—it’s got an ISO number.<span> </span>But it isn’t a “voluntary consensus” standard.<span> </span>Microsoft didn’t ask for a full standards
committee workup, just a bare approval—from filing to issue was a few months.)</font></span></p><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="2">
</font></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="2"><span> </span></font></span></p><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="2"></font></span><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="2"><b>What arguments work?</b><span> </span>OMB
reviews are confined to OMB’s subject matter jurisdiction.<span> </span>An effective letter cannot argue that DOCX is
a dumb idea as a technological matter.</font></span><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="2">
</font></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:6pt 0in 0.0001pt 0.25in"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="2"><b>*</b>
A good letter ties facts to specific legal issues where OMB has
jurisdiction.<span> The listserv gadget Carl uses won't allow attachments; if you email me I'll send you a</span> boiled-down
excerpt from the Paperwork Reduction Act and its regulations, with hot button
phrases highlighted.<span> </span>Use catch phrases from
the law, “unnecessarily duplicative,” “not necessary for performance of agency
function,” “shift[] disproportionate costs or burdens onto the public” etc.</font></span></p><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="2">
</font></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:6pt 0in 0.0001pt 0.25in"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="2"><b>*</b>
The arguments that will put most bees under OMB’s blanket are the procedural
ones.<span> </span>OMB doesn’t want to be in the
position the PTO put them in.<span> </span>If the PTO
had followed procedure, this idea would have died years ago, without the PTO
putting dollars into a doomed engineering project and without OMB putting time
into policing it.<span> </span>PTAAARMIGAN laid out a
bunch of procedural lapses at <a href="https://downloads.regulations.gov/PTO-P-2023-0031-0008/attachment_1.pdf" target="_blank">https://downloads.regulations.gov/PTO-P-2023-0031-0008/attachment_1.pdf</a>
at pages 23-28.<span> </span>Procedure matters—it’s
how we get errors out the pipeline early!<span>
</span>If we get OMB to be very harsh on PTO for procedural breach, perhaps we
won’t have this kind of misbehavior again for the next rule.<span> </span>If the PTO misparaphrases your comment
letter, that will really irritate OMB—be sure to point that out.</font></span></p><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="2">
</font></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt 0in 0.0001pt"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="2"></font></span></p>
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