Department of Commerce
Patent and Trademark Office
- [Docket No.: PTO-P-2022-0019]
AGENCY:
Patent and Trademark Office, Department of Commerce.
ACTION:
Notice; request for comments.
SUMMARY:
On June 29, 2016, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) implemented the Cancer Immunotherapy Pilot Program in support of the White House's National Cancer Moonshot initiative, which sought to accelerate cancer research. The program permits patent applications pertaining to cancer immunotherapy to be advanced out of turn for examination. To date, over 835 petitions requesting participation in the pilot program have been filed, and over 615 patents have been granted under the program. In view of the continued interest in the Cancer Immunotherapy Pilot Program, as well as the White House's recent reignition of the National ( printed page 38715) Cancer Moonshot initiative, the USPTO is extending the program, with all parameters remaining the same, until September 30, 2022. The USPTO is also in the process of deciding whether to expand the scope of the pilot program and may, additionally, further extend it (with or without modifications), depending on feedback from the participants and the public, additional continued interest, and the program's effectiveness.
DATES:
Comments must be received by July 29, 2022 to ensure consideration.
Pilot duration: The Cancer Immunotherapy Pilot Program will continue to run until September 30, 2022. Therefore, petitions to make special under the Cancer Immunotherapy Pilot Program must be filed on or before September 30, 2022.
ADDRESSES:
For reasons of Government efficiency, comments must be submitted through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov. To submit comments via the portal, enter docket number PTO-P-2022-0019 on the homepage and click “Search.” The site will provide a search results page listing all documents associated with this docket. Find a reference to this notice and click on the “Comment Now!” icon, complete the required fields, and enter or attach your comments. Attachments to electronic comments will be accepted in ADOBE® portable document format or MICROSOFT WORD® format. Because comments will be made available for public inspection, information that the submitter does not desire to make public, such as an address or phone number, should not be included in the comments.
www.regulations.govVisit the Federal eRulemaking Portal website ( www.regulations.gov) for additional instructions on providing comments via the portal. If electronic submission of comments is not feasible due to a lack of access to a computer and/or the internet, please contact the USPTO using the contact information below for special instructions.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
For questions regarding this pilot program in general, please contact Susy Tsang-Foster, Senior Legal Advisor, Office of Patent Legal Administration, Office of the Deputy Commissioner for Patent Examination Policy, at 571-272-7711or susy.tsang-foster@uspto.gov. For questions related to a particular petition, please contact Gary B. Nickol, Supervisory Patent Examiner, at 571-272-0835 or gary.nickol@uspto.gov; or Brandon J. Fetterolf, Supervisory Patent Examiner, at 571-272-2919 or brandon.fetterolf@uspto.gov, both of Technology Center 1600.