36184 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 127 /Thursday, July 2, 1998 /Rules and Regulations

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Patent and Trademark Office

37 CFR Part 1

[Docket No. 980108007–8131–02]

RIN 0651–AA97

Changes to Continued Prosecution

Application Practice

AGENCY: Patent and Trademark Office,

Commerce.

ACTION: Final rule.

SUMMARY: The Patent and Trademark

Office (Office) is confirming the

amendment of its regulations that

removed the requirement that the prior

application of a continued prosecution

application (CPA) must have been filed

on or after June 8, 1995. This

requirement was removed in response to

requests from the public.

DATES: This final rule is effective on July

2, 1998. The interim rule, published at

63 FR 5732, was effective February 4,

1998.

Applicability date: This rule change

applies to all continued prosecution

applications filed on or after December

1, 1997.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Concerning this final rule: Hiram H.

Bernstein or Robert W. Bahr, Senior

Legal Advisors, by telephone at (703)

305–9285; or by mail addressed to: Box

Comments—Patents, Assistant

Commissioner for Patents, Washington,

DC 20231; or by facsimile to (703) 308–

6916, marked to the attention of Mr.

Bernstein.

Concerning § 1.53 in General: John F.

Gonzales, Fred A. Silverberg, or Robert

W. Bahr, Senior Legal Advisors, at the

above-mentioned telephone number.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Continued

Prosecution Application (CPA) practice

under § 1.53(d) was adopted to permit

applicants to obtain further examination

of an application. See Changes to Patent

Practice and Procedure; Final Rule

Notice, 62 FR 53131, 53147 (October 10,

1997), 1203 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office 63, 76–

77 (October 21, 1997). Section 1.53(d) as

adopted, effective December 1, 1997,

required, inter alia, that the prior

application of a CPA be filed on or after

June 8, 1995. See Final Rule Notice, 62

FR at 53186, 1203 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office

at 112. Thus, if an application was filed

before June 8, 1995, the applicant was

required to file a continuation (or

divisional) under § 1.53(b) to obtain

further examination.

Section 1.53(b) requires that any

application filed thereunder (including

a continuation or divisional) contain a

specification (including at least one

claim) and any necessary drawing.

While § 1.53(b) permits the submission

of a rewritten specification (with all

prior amendments incorporated), such

an option is only practical to those who

have the prior application in electronic

form. For those applicants who do not

have the prior application in electronic

form, their only option is to submit a

copy of the prior application (including

any appendix) along with a copy of all

the amendments made in the prior

application, as well as copies of all

other papers filed in the prior

application (e.g., information disclosure

statements (IDSs), affidavits,

declarations) that are to be considered

in the continuing application.

Subsequent to the adoption of the

change to § 1.53(d), the Office received

a number of comments indicating that it

takes a considerable amount of time to

prepare the papers required by § 1.53(b),

even when copied from a prior

application. In view of these concerns,

the Office amended § 1.53(d)(1)(i) by an

immediately effective interim rule to

eliminate its requirement that the prior

application of a CPA be filed on or after

June 8, 1995, and requested public

comment on this interim rule change.

See Changes to Continued Prosecution

Application Practice; Interim Rule

Notice, 63 FR 5732 (February 4, 1998),

1207 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office 83 (February

24, 1998).

The Office has received a number of

comments by telephone expressing

support for the change to § 1.53(d)(1)(i),

as well as its immediate adoption and

applicability to CPAs filed on or after

December 1, 1997 (i.e., all CPAs). The

Office, however, has received no written

comments on the change to

§ 1.53(d)(1)(i). Accordingly, the change

to § 1.53(d)(1)(i) in the interim rule—

removal of the requirement that the

prior application of a continued

prosecution application (CPA) under

§ 1.53(d) must have been filed on or

after June 8, 1995—is adopted as a final

rule.

As discussed in the Interim Rule

Notice, no patent issuing from a CPA

under § 1.53(d) is entitled to the

provisions of 35 U.S.C. 154(c). To avoid

confusion as to the term of any patent

issuing on a CPA, other than an

application for a reissue or design

patent, of an application filed before

June 8, 1995, the Office will include the

following notice on any patent, other

than a reissue or design, issuing on a

CPA:

This patent issued on a continued

prosecution application filed under 37 CFR

1.53(d), and is subject to the twenty-year

patent term provisions of 35 U.S.C. 154(a)(2).

The term of a design patent is

fourteen years beginning on the date of

grant as provided in 35 U.S.C. 173. The

term of a reissue patent is the unexpired

part of the term of the original patent as

provided in 35 U.S.C. 251. Since the

term of a reissue or design patent is not

affected by the filing of a CPA, the

above-mentioned notice will not be

printed on any reissue or design patent.

Other Considerations

This final rule is in conformity with

the requirements of the Regulatory

Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.),

Executive Order 12612 (October 26,

1987), and the Paperwork Reduction Act

of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). It has

been determined that this rulemaking is

not significant for the purposes of

Executive Order 12866 (September 30,

1993).

This final rule involves a collection of

information subject to the Paperwork

Reduction Act. This final rule involves

the deletion of the requirement which

stated that the prior application of a

continued prosecution application must

have been filed on or after June 8, 1995.

This collection of information has been

previously approved by the Office of

Management and Budget (OMB) under

OMB Control Number 0651–0032. The

public reporting burden for this

collection of information is estimated to

average 7.88 hours per response,

including the time for reviewing

instructions, searching existing data

sources, gathering and maintaining the

information. Send comments regarding

this burden estimate or any other aspect

of the data requirement, including

suggestions for reducing the burden to

Hiram H. Bernstein or Robert W. Bahr

at the address specified above and to the

Office of Information and Regulatory

Affairs, OMB, 725 17th Street, N.W.,

Washington, D.C., 20503 (Attn: PTO

Desk Officer).

Notwithstanding any other provision

of law, no person is required to respond

to nor shall a person be subject to a

penalty for failure to comply with a

collection of information subject to the

requirements of the Paperwork

Reduction Act unless that collection of

information displays a currently valid

OMB Control Number.

The principal impact of this final rule

is to relieve a restriction in

§ 1.53(d)(1)(i) to permit applicants to file

a CPA in the situation in which the

prior application was filed before June

8, 1995.

The Office has determined that this

final rule has no Federalism

implications affecting the relationship

between the National Government and
Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 127 /Thursday, July 2, 1998 /Rules and Regulations 36185

the States as outlined in Executive

Order 12612 (October 26, 1987).

List of Subjects in 37 CFR Part 1

Administrative practice and

procedure, Courts, Freedom of

information, Inventions and patents,

Reporting and recordkeeping

requirements, Small businesses.

For the reasons set forth in the

preamble, the interim rule amending 37

CFR Part 1 which was published at 63

FR 5732–5734 on February 4, 1998, is

adopted as a final rule without change.

Dated: June 25, 1998.

Bruce A. Lehman,

Assistant Secretary of Commerce and

Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks.

[FR Doc. 98–17632 Filed 7–1–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–16–U

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND

HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and

Families

45 CFR Part 303

RIN 0970–AB67

Child Support Enforcement Program;

Quarterly Wage and Unemployment

Compensations Claims Reporting to

the National Directory of New Hires

AGENCY: Office of Child Support

Enforcement (OCSE), HHS.

ACTION: Final rule.

SUMMARY: This final rule implements

section 453A(g)(2)(B) of the Social

Security Act (the Act), as added by

section 313(b) of the Personal

Responsibility and Work Opportunity

Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA)

and amended by section 5533 of Public

Law 105–33, section 303(h) of the Act,

in part, as amended by section 316(g) of

PRWORA, and section 3304(a)(16) of the

Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as

amended by section 316(g) of PRWORA.

These provisions require certain State

entities to furnish quarterly wage and

unemployment compensation data to

the National Directory of New Hires or

to the Secretary of Health and Human

Services. A Notice of Proposed

Rulemaking was published in the

Federal Register on October 7, 1997 (62

FR 52306).

EFFECTIVE DATE: The final rule is

effective August 3, 1998.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Anne Benson, Policy Branch, OCSE

(202) 401–1467, e-mail:

abenson@acf.dhhs.gov. Deaf and

hearing-impaired individuals may call

the federal Dual Party Relay Service at

1–800–877–8339 between 8:00 a.m. and

7:00 p.m. Eastern time.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Statutory Authority

This regulation is published under the

authority of section 453A(g)(2)(B) of the

Social Security Act (the Act), 42 U.S.C.

653A(g)(2)(B), as added by section

313(b) of the Personal Responsibility

and Work Opportunity Reconciliation

Act of 1996 (PRWORA), Pub. L. 104–193

and amended by section 5533 of Public

Law 105–33; section 303(h) of the Act,

in part, 42 U.S.C. 503(h), as amended by

section 316(g) of PRWORA; and section

3304(a)(16) of the Internal Revenue

Code of 1986, 26 U.S.C. 3304(a)(16), as

amended by section 316(g) of PRWORA.

This regulation is also issued under

the authority granted to the Secretary of

Health and Human Services (Secretary)

by section 1102 of the Act, 42 U.S.C.

1302. Section 1102 of the Act authorizes

the Secretary to publish regulations that

may be necessary for the efficient

administration of the functions for

which she is responsible under the Act.

Section 453A(g)(2)(B) of the Act

requires the State Directory of New

Hires to furnish, on a quarterly basis,

data concerning the wages and

unemployment compensation paid to

individuals to the National Directory of

New Hires. Pursuant to section

453A(g)(2)(B) of the Act, the Secretary of

the Department of Health and Human

Services is required to publish

regulations to identify the dates, format,

and data elements necessary for the

State Directory of New Hires to furnish

the quarterly wage and unemployment

compensation data to the National

Directory of New Hires.

Section 3304(a)(16) of the Internal

Revenue Code of 1986 contains

requirements that must be included in

State Unemployment Compensation

laws for employers in the State to

receive Federal Unemployment Tax

credits. Section 316(g) of Public Law

104–193 amended section 3304(a)(16) of

the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to

provide that the wage and

unemployment compensation

information contained in the records of

the State agency administering that

program shall be furnished to the

Secretary of Health and Human

Services, in accordance with regulations

promulgated by the Secretary, as may be

necessary for the purposes of the

National Directory of New Hires under

section 453(i)(1) of the Act. The

Secretary will maintain the quarterly

wage and unemployment compensation

data reported pursuant to section

3304(a)(16) in the National Directory of

New Hires (NDNH), which is

established pursuant to section 453 of

the Act.

Section 303(h)(1)(A) of the Act, as

amended by section 316(g) of Public

Law 104–193, requires the State agency

charged with the administration of the

unemployment compensation program,

on a reimbursable basis, to disclose

quarterly, to the Secretary of Health and

Human Services, wage and claim

information, as required pursuant to

section 453(i)(1) of the Act, that is

contained in the records of such agency.

As is the case with information reported

pursuant to section 3304(a)(16) of the

Internal Revenue Code of 1986, the

Secretary will maintain any quarterly

wage and unemployment compensation

data reported pursuant to section 303(h)

of the Act in the NDNH. Section

303(h)(3)(A) of the Act defines ‘wage

information’ as ‘‘information regarding

wages paid to an individual, the social

security account number of such

individual, and the name, address,

State, and the Federal employer

identification number of the employer

paying such wages to such individual.’’

Section 303(h)(3)(B) defines ‘claim

information’ as ‘‘information regarding

whether an individual is receiving, has

received, or has made application for,

unemployment compensation, the

amount of any such compensation being

received (or to be received by such

individual), and the individual’s current

(or most recent) home address.’’ Title III

of the Act, Grants to States for

Unemployment Compensation

Administration, is directly administered

by the Department of Labor. We are

referencing section 303(h)(1)(A) of the

Act because this provision references

information required pursuant to

section 453(i)(1) of the Act. Section

453(i)(1) is administered by the

Department of Health and Human

Services, and the information that is

required pursuant to that section (which

in turn references information supplied

pursuant to section 453A(g)(2)) is

established in this rule. The Secretary

also adopted the definitions included in

section 303(h) in the rule in order to

enable the implementation of the

provisions in an integrated and

complementary manner.

Background

The Federal Parent Locator Service

(FPLS) is a computerized network

established pursuant to section 453 of

the Act, 42 U.S.C. 653, through which

States may request information from

Federal and State agencies to find

noncustodial parents and/or their

employers for purposes of establishing

paternity and securing support. The