137 Intellectual Property Professionals to OIRA re Patent Center (Oct. 9, 2023)

Abstract

On September 20, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) announced a revision of an existing information collection to take effect November 8, 2023. Via press release, the PTO announced that it would decommission its time-tested, reliable software systems (called Private PAIR and EFSWeb) and would instead force the public to use its new system, Patent Center. For years, the public has been warning the PTO that Patent Center is incomplete and extraordinarily buggy, and that it is not ready to be the PTO’s primary interface to the public. AIPLA (the American Intellectual Property Law Association, the largest professional organization in the field) told the PTO in no uncertain terms that Patent Center is not ready.

The PTO has not sought clearance under the Paperwork Reduction Act, nor has the PTO submitted this change for review under Executive Order 12866. A majority of the affected individuals work for small entity law firms. Because the PTO observed no process (only a press release, with no Federal Register notice), the PTO has observed no step of the Information Collection regulations, has offered no accommodation under § 3506(c)(3)(C), and has conducted no Regulatory Flexibility Analysis.

Keywords: patent law, administrative law, Paperwork Reduction Act, Information Quality Act, Office of Management and Budget