Rules of Practice To Allocate the Burden of Persuasion on Motions To Amend in Trial Proceedings Before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Document Headings Document headings vary by document type but may contain the following: the agency or agencies that issued and signed a document the number of the CFR title and the number of each part the document amends, proposes to amend, or is directly related to the agency docket number / agency internal file number the RIN which identifies each regulatory action listed in the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions See the Document Drafting Handbook for more details. Department of Commerce Patent and Trademark Office 37 CFR Part 42 [Docket No. PTO-P-2019-0011] RIN 0651-AD34 AGENCY: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Department of Commerce. ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking. SUMMARY: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO” or “Office”) proposes changes to the rules of practice in inter partes review (“IPR”), post-grant review (“PGR”), and the transitional program for covered business method patents (“CBM”) (collectively “post-grant trial”) proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB” or “Board”) to allocate the burdens of persuasion in relation to motions to amend and the patentability of substitute claims proposed therein. DATES: Comment Deadline Date: The Office solicits comments from the public on this proposed rulemaking. Written comments must be received on or before December 23, 2019 to ensure consideration. ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent by electronic mail message over the internet addressed to: MTABurden2019@uspto.gov . Comments may also be sent by electronic mail message over the internet via the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov . See the Federal eRulemaking Portal website for additional instructions on providing comments via the Federal eRulemaking Portal. All comments submitted directly to the USPTO or provided on the Federal eRulemaking Portal should include the d…