Changes To Support Implementation of the United States Patent and Trademark Office 21st Century Strategic Plan
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (Office) has established a 21st Century Strategic Plan to transform the Office into a quality-focused, highly productive, responsive organization supporting a market-driven intellectual property system. The Office is proposing to revise the rules of practice to support the implementation of the 21st Century Strategic Plan, which involves improving the patent application and examination process by promoting quality enhancement, reducing patent pendency, and using information technology to simplify the patent application process. The more notable changes being proposed in this document involve permitting electronic signatures on a number of submissions, streamlining the requirements for incorporation by reference of prior-filed applications, and clarifying the qualifications for claiming small entity status for purposes of paying reduced patent fees. These changes to the patent application and examination process are necessary for the Office to be able to process the long-term trend of increasing numbers of applications within a reasonable time frame.
- Task
- Read the news
- Patent or trademark
- both
- Legacy system
- —
- Current entry point
- www.federalregister.gov/documents/2003/09/12/03-23010/changes-to-support-implementation-of-the-united-states-patent-and-trademark-office-21st-century (permanent link in the Federal Register, verified 2026-09-30)
- Legacy system and where it moved
- No legacy system name mention in title or summary )
- Fee
- Fee mentioned in title or summary (Confirmed in the document text)
- What you need (account or API key)
- No account or key mention in title or summary )
- Published
- 2003-09-12
- Document type
- Proposed Rule
- Source
- USPTO documents published in the Federal Register (Federal Register API)(retrieved 2026-10-06)
Everything in the same category
Read the news (all 1988) · both (all 2333)
Related entry points
- Changes To Support Implementation of the United States Patent and Trademark Office 21st Century Strategic Plan
- Changes To Implement Electronic Maintenance of Official Patent Application Records
- Changes to Implement Priority Document Exchange Between Intellectual Property Offices
- Request for Comments on the Study of the Changes Needed To Implement a Unity of Invention Standard in the United States
- Notice of Availability of and Request for Comments on Green Paper Concerning Restriction Practice
- Notice of Availability of and Request for Comments on Green Paper Concerning Restriction Practice
- Changes To Facilitate Applicant's Authorization of Access to Unpublished U.S. Patent Applications by Foreign Intellectual Property Offices
- Changes To Facilitate Applicant's Authorization of Access to Unpublished U.S. Patent Applications by Foreign Intellectual Property Offices
- Notice Regarding the Elimination of the Fee for Petitions To Make Special Filed Under the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) Programs
- Pilot Program for Extended Time Period To Reply to a Notice To File Missing Parts of Nonprovisional Application
- Small Entity Government Use License Exception
- Changes To Implement Electronic Maintenance of Official Patent Application Records
- Request for Comments on Proposed Change To Missing Parts Practice
- Changes to Implement Micro Entity Status for Paying Patent Fees
- Changes To Implement Micro Entity Status for Paying Patent Fees
- Standard for Presentation of Nucleotide and Amino Acid Sequence Listings Using XML (eXtensible Markup Language) in Patent Applications To Implement WIPO Standard ST.26; Incorporation by Reference