USPTO Law School Clinic Certification Program
This rulemaking is required by a Public Law enacted on December 16, 2014. This law requires the United States Patent and Trademark Office ("Office" or "USPTO") Director to establish regulations and procedures for application to and participation in the USPTO Law School Clinic Certification Program. This law removed the "pilot" status of the USPTO's existing law school clinic certification program. The program allows students enrolled in a participating law school's clinic to practice patent and trademark law before the USPTO under the direct supervision of a faculty clinic supervisor by drafting, filing, and prosecuting patent or trademark applications, or both, on a pro bono basis for clients who qualify for assistance from the law school's clinic. In this way, these student practitioners gain valuable experience drafting, filing, and prosecuting patent and trademark applications that would otherwise be unavailable to students while in law school. The program also facilitates the provision of pro bono services to trademark and patent applicants who lack the financial resources to pay for legal representation. The proposed rules incorporate the requirements and procedures developed and implemented during the pilot phase of the program.
- Task
- Read the news
- Patent or trademark
- both
- Legacy system
- —
- Current entry point
- www.federalregister.gov/documents/2015/12/16/2015-31627/uspto-law-school-clinic-certification-program (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
- No fee mention in title or summary )
- What you need (account or API key)
- No account or key mention in title or summary )
- Published
- 2015-12-16
- 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
- USPTO Law School Clinic Certification Program
- Changes To Practice for Continuing Applications, Requests for Continued Examination Practice, and Applications Containing Patentably Indistinct Claims
- Expansion and Extension of the Patent Application Backlog Reduction Stimulus Plan
- Expansion and Extension of the Climate Change Mitigation Pilot Program
- Expansion and Extension of the Green Technology Pilot Program
- Changes to the Representation of Others Before the United States Patent and Trademark Office
- Elimination of Publication Requirement in the Collaborative Search Pilot Program Between the Japan Patent Office and the United States Patent and Trademark Office
- 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
- Changes to the Representation of Others Before the United States Patent and Trademark Office
- Changes To Permit Delayed Submission of Certain Requirements for Prioritized Examination
- 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
- Changes To Implement the Prioritized Examination Track (Track I) of the Enhanced Examination Timing Control Procedures
- Notice of Roundtable on Proposed Requirements for Recordation of Real-Party-in-Interest Information Throughout Application Pendency and Patent Term
- Implementation of Statute of Limitations Provisions for Office Disciplinary Proceedings