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 noteworthy changes in this final rule are: Providing for an alternative signature on a number of submissions; adjusting the fees for a number of patent- related petitions to reflect the actual cost of processing these petitions; codifying the current incorporation by reference practice and also providing the conditions under which a claim for priority or benefit of a prior-filed application would be considered an incorporation by reference of the prior-filed application; expanding the submissions that can be filed on a compact disc; eliminating the requirement for copies of U.S. patents or U.S. patent application publications cited in an information disclosure statement for all applications; providing that a request for information may contain interrogatories or requests for stipulations seeking technical factual information actually known by the applicant; providing that supplemental replies will no longer be entered as a matter of right; providing for the treatment of preliminary amendments present as of the filing date of an application as part of the original disclosure; and eliminating the requirement in a reissue application for the actual physical surrender by applicant of the original Letters Patent.
- Task
- Read the news
- Patent or trademark
- both
- Legacy system
- —
- Current entry point
- www.federalregister.gov/documents/2004/09/21/04-20936/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
- 2004-09-21
- Document type
- 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 Priority Document Exchange Between Intellectual Property Offices
- Changes To Implement Electronic Maintenance of Official Patent Application Records
- 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
- Pilot Program for Extended Time Period To Reply to a Notice To File Missing Parts of Nonprovisional Application
- Request for Comments on Proposed Change To Missing Parts Practice
- Changes To Practice for Continuing Applications, Requests for Continued Examination Practice, and Applications Containing Patentably Indistinct Claims
- Change in Practice Regarding Correction of Foreign Priority Claims
- Notice of Public Hearing and Request for Comments on Matters Related to the Harmonization of Substantive Patent Law
- Changes To Implement the Patent Law Treaty
- Enhanced Examination Timing Control Initiative; Notice of Public Meeting
- Changes To Facilitate Applicant's Authorization of Access to Unpublished U.S. Patent Applications by Foreign Intellectual Property Offices
- Changes To Permit Delayed Submission of Certain Requirements for Prioritized Examination
- Changes To Practice for Continued Examination Filings, Patent Applications Containing Patentably Indistinct Claims, and Examination of Claims in Patent Applications