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Policy Tailors And The Rookie Regulator, Sarah Tran
Policy Tailors And The Rookie Regulator, Sarah Tran
Sarah Tran
Commentators have long lamented the lack of policy tailoring in the patent system. But unlike other administrative agencies, who regularly tailor regulatory policies to the needs of specific industries, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”) was widely believed to lack the authority and institutional competence for such policymaking. This Article provides the first comprehensive analysis of recent legislative reforms to the PTO’s policymaking authority. It shows the reforms empower the PTO to have a larger say in patent policy than ever before. The big question is thus: to what extent is it good policy for a rookie regulator to …
The U.S. Patent Office’S Proposed Fees Under The America Invents Act—Part I: The Scope Of The Office’S Fee-Setting Authority, Ron D. Katznelson
The U.S. Patent Office’S Proposed Fees Under The America Invents Act—Part I: The Scope Of The Office’S Fee-Setting Authority, Ron D. Katznelson
Ron D. Katznelson
This two-part article discusses the Patent and Trademark Office’s recent proposed rulemaking setting new patent user fees. In Part I the author argues that the PTO can raise fees in accordance with its aggregate costs but lacks authority to set national patent policies, or to skew certain fees to discourage or encourage a particular service. The author also asserts that the America Invents Act does not vest with the PTO discretion to set the level of its operating reserve – a determination reserved solely for congressional appropriations. In an upcoming Part II, the author will discuss specific fees and their …
Acting Like An Administrative Agency: The Federal Circuit En Banc, Ryan G. Vacca
Acting Like An Administrative Agency: The Federal Circuit En Banc, Ryan G. Vacca
Ryan G. Vacca
When Congress created the Federal Circuit in 1982, it thought it was creating a court of appeals. Little did it know that it was also creating a quasi-administrative agency that would engage in substantive rulemaking and set policy in a manner substantially similar to administrative agencies. In this Article, I examine the Federal Circuit's practices when it orders a case to be heard en banc and illustrate how these practices cause the Federal Circuit to look very much like an administrative agency engaging in substantive rulemaking. The number and breadth of questions the Federal Circuit agrees to hear en banc …