The road to the rules: a conversation with Janet Gongola of the USPTO

09 February 2012

Eileen McDermott, New York

USPTO Patent Reform Coordinator Janet Gongola gave Eileen McDermott a sneak peek into the months leading up to Tuesday night’s rules package implementing the contested cases provisions of the America Invents Act

How long did this all take and when did it start?

We started the process right at the time of enactment – maybe a few days ahead of time. It took us about three months to come up with the internal proposal and clear it internally. Then we had to send it to the Patent Public Advisory Committee (PPAC) the Patent Office Professional Association (POPA), the Department of Commerce and the Office of Management and Budget. OMB then circulates the document to other government agencies that may be impacted by the rules and to the White House law division. We collected their feedback and engaged in back and forth dialogue with POPA and PPAC to negotiate changes, but if OMB or the Department of Commerce has comments, we make them.

We predicted we’d receive feedback from OMB within 30 days, but it...

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