Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 169 / Friday, September 3, 2021 / Notices 49521 

Agenda 

Friday, September 17, 2021 

The PCFMAC agenda will include: (a) 

Reviewing the draft 2022 Annual 

Deployment Plan and budget update; (b) 

status update on the partial coverage 

integrated analysis work plan; (c) an 

update on observer provider labor 

issues; (d) public comment; and (e) 

other business. The agenda is subject to 

change, and the latest version will be 

posted at https://meetings.npfmc.org/ 

Meeting/Details/2374 prior to the 

meeting, along with meeting materials. 

Connection Information 

You can attend the meeting online 

using a computer, tablet, or smartphone; 

or by phone only. Connection 

information will be posted online at: 

https://meetings.npfmc.org/Meeting/ 

Details/2374. 

Public Comment 

Public comment letters will be 

accepted and should be submitted 

electronically to https://

meetings.npfmc.org/Meeting/Details/ 

2374. 

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq. 

Dated: August 31, 2021. 

Tracey L. Thompson, 

Acting Deputy Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2021–19092 Filed 9–2–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[RTID 0648–XB383] 

New England Fishery Management 

Council; Public Meeting 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of public meeting. 

SUMMARY: The New England Fishery 

Management Council (Council) is 

scheduling a joint public meeting of its 

Scallop Committee via webinar to 

consider actions affecting New England 

fisheries in the exclusive economic zone 

(EEZ). Recommendations from this 

group will be brought to the full Council 

for formal consideration and action, if 

appropriate. 

DATES: This webinar will be held on 

Wednesday, September 22, 2021, at 9 

a.m. Webinar registration URL 

information: https://

attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/ 

6632293038888778251. 

ADDRESSES: Council address: New 

England Fishery Management Council, 

50 Water Street, Mill 2, Newburyport, 

MA 01950. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Thomas A. Nies, Executive Director, 

New England Fishery Management 

Council; telephone: (978) 465–0492. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Agenda 

The Committee will review 

Framework 34, specifically a review of 

results of 2021 scallop surveys, and 

preliminary projections. The primary 

focus of this meeting will be to develop 

input on the range of potential 

specification alternatives for FY 2022 

and FY 2023. Framework 34 will 

implement measures approved through 

Amendment 21 to the FMP. The action 

will set ABC/ACLs, days-at-sea, access 

area allocations, total allowable 

landings for the Northern Gulf of Maine 

(NGOM) management area, targets for 

General Category incidental catch, 

General Category access area trips and 

trip accounting, and set-asides for the 

observer and research programs for 

fishing year 2022 and default 

specifications for fishing year 2023. 

They also plan to discuss the 2021 Work 

Priorities with a focus on Amendment 

21 timelines, including final decision 

and implementation. Receive updates 

on the progress of the Scallop Survey 

Working Group and the evaluation of 

rotational management. Develop input, 

if needed. The Committee will also 

provide input on the range of possible 

2022 scallop work priorities. Other 

business will be discussed, if necessary. 

Although non-emergency issues not 

contained on the agenda may come 

before this Council for discussion, those 

issues may not be the subject of formal 

action during this meeting. Council 

action will be restricted to those issues 

specifically listed in this notice and any 

issues arising after publication of this 

notice that require emergency action 

under section 305(c) of the MagnusonStevens Act, provided the public has 

been notified of the Council’s intent to 

take final action to address the 

emergency. The public also should be 

aware that the meeting will be recorded. 

Consistent with 16 U.S.C. 1852, a copy 

of the recording is available upon 

request. 

Special Accommodations 

This meeting is physically accessible 

to people with disabilities. Requests for 

sign language interpretation or other 

auxiliary aids should be directed to 

Thomas A. Nies, Executive Director, at 

(978) 465–0492, at least 5 days prior to 

the meeting date. 

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq. 

Dated: August 31, 2021. 

Tracey L. Thompson, 

Acting Deputy Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2021–19123 Filed 9–2–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

Patent and Trademark Office 

[Docket No. PTO–P–2021–0032] 

Patent Eligibility Jurisprudence Study 

AGENCY: United States Patent and 

Trademark Office, Department of 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Request for information; 

extension of comment period. 

SUMMARY: On July 9, 2021, the United 

States Patent and Trademark Office 

(USPTO) published a request for public 

input on a study it is conducting on the 

current state of patent eligibility 

jurisprudence in the United States and 

on how that jurisprudence has impacted 

investment and innovation. Through 

this notice, the USPTO is extending the 

period for public comment until 

October 15, 2021. 

DATES: Comment date: Comments must 

be received by October 15, 2021. Late 

comments will be considered to the 

extent practicable. 

ADDRESSES: For reasons of Government 

efficiency, comments must be submitted 

through the Federal eRulemaking Portal 

at www.regulations.gov. To submit 

comments via the portal, enter docket 

number PTO–P–2021–0032 on the 

homepage and click ‘‘Search.’’ The site 

will provide a search results page listing 

all documents associated with this 

docket. Find a reference to this request 

for information and click on the 

‘‘Comment Now!’’ icon, complete the 

required fields, and enter or attach your 

comments. Attachments to electronic 

comments will be accepted in ADOBE®

portable document format or 

MICROSOFT WORD® format. Because 

comments will be made available for 

public inspection, information that the 

submitter does not desire to make 

public, such as an address or phone 

number, should not be included in the 

comments. Visit the Federal 

eRulemaking Portal for additional 

instructions on providing comments via 

the portal. If electronic submission of 

comments is not feasible due to a lack 

of access to a computer and/or the 


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49522 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 169 / Friday, September 3, 2021 / Notices 

internet, please contact the USPTO 

using the contact information below for 

special instructions regarding how to 

submit comments by other means. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Courtney L. Stopp, Office of Policy and 

International Affairs, USPTO, at 

Courtney.Stopp@uspto.gov or 571–272– 

9300. Please direct media inquiries to 

the USPTO’s Office of the Chief 

Communications Officer at 571–272– 

8400. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: At the 

request of Senators Tillis, Hirono, 

Cotton, and Coons, the USPTO is 

conducting a study on the current state 

of patent eligibility jurisprudence in the 

United States and on how that 

jurisprudence has impacted investment 

and innovation. On July 9, 2021, the 

USPTO published a request for 

information, seeking public input to 

assist in the preparation of that study. 

See Patent Eligibility Jurisprudence 

Study, 86 FR 36257 (Jul. 9, 2021). The 

notice requested public comments by 

September 7, 2021. 

Through this notice, the USPTO is 

extending the period for public 

comment until October 15, 2021, to give 

interested members of the public 

additional time to submit comments. All 

other information and instructions to 

commenters provided in the July 9, 

2021, notice remain unchanged. 

Previously submitted comments do not 

need to be resubmitted. 

Andrew Hirshfeld, 

Commissioner for Patents, Performing the 

Functions and Duties of the Under Secretary 

of Commerce for Intellectual Property and 

Director of the United States Patent and 

Trademark Office. 

[FR Doc. 2021–19112 Filed 9–2–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–16–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

Patent and Trademark Office 

[Docket No.: PTO–P–2021–0037] 

Modification of COVID–19 Prioritized 

Examination Pilot Program 

AGENCY: United States Patent and 

Trademark Office, Department of 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The United States Patent and 

Trademark Office (USPTO or Office) is 

modifying the COVID–19 Prioritized 

Examination Pilot Program to accept 

applications until December 31, 2021. 

Requests that are compliant with the 

pilot program’s requirements and are 

filed on or before December 31, 2021, 

will be accepted, even if more than 500 

requests have already been approved. 

The USPTO will evaluate whether to 

terminate or further extend the program 

during this extension. 

DATES: The COVID–19 Prioritized 

Examination Pilot Program is modified 

as of September 3, 2021 and is extended 

to run until December 31, 2021. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Robert A. Clarke, Editor of the Manual 

of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP) 

(telephone at 571–272–7735; email at 

robert.clarke@uspto.gov). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On May 

14, 2020, the USPTO published a notice 

for the implementation of the COVID–19 

Prioritized Examination Pilot Program. 

See COVID–19 Prioritized Examination 

Pilot Program, 85 FR 28932 (May 14, 

2020) (COVID–19 Track One Notice). 

The COVID–19 Track One Notice 

indicated that an applicant may request 

prioritized examination without 

payment of the prioritized examination 

fee and associated processing fee if: (1) 

The application’s claim(s) covered a 

product or process related to COVID–19, 

(2) the product or process was subject to 

an applicable Food and Drug 

Administration (FDA) approval for 

COVID–19 use, and (3) the applicant 

met other requirements given in the 

COVID–19 Track One Notice. As of 

August 2, 2021, 120 patents have issued 

from applications granted prioritized 

status under the pilot program. The 

average total pendency, including time 

consumed by continued examination, 

from filing to issue for those 

applications was 249 days. The shortest 

pendency from filing date to issue date 

for those applications was 75 days. 

The COVID–19 Track One Notice 

indicated that the pilot program would 

expire after the USPTO accepted 500 

applications into the program. As of 

August 16, 2021, the USPTO had 

accepted 476 applications into the 

program, and there were 52 requests to 

participate that had not yet been acted 

upon. To ensure that applicants are not 

refused access to the pilot program due 

to delays in the USPTO’s consideration 

of the requests to participate, the 

USPTO is modifying the program to 

consider on the merits any request filed 

on or before December 31, 2021, even if 

an applicant’s request to participate is 

not acted upon until after the USPTO 

has accepted 500 requests. The USPTO 

will evaluate whether to terminate or 

further extend the program during this 

extension. If the USPTO determines that 

a further extension of the pilot program 

is appropriate, the USPTO will publish 

a subsequent notice further extending 

the program. 

Unless the pilot program is further 

extended by a subsequent notice to the 

public, following the expiration of this 

extension, the pilot program will be 

terminated, and applicants may instead 

seek to use the Prioritized Examination 

(Track One) Program. Applications 

accorded prioritized examination under 

the pilot program will not lose that 

status merely because the application is 

pending after the date the pilot program 

is terminated. In other words, 

applications accepted into the pilot 

program will continue to be examined 

under prioritized examination status 

until that status is terminated for one or 

more reasons, as described in the 

COVID–19 Track One Notice. 

The Prioritized Examination (Track 

One) Program permits an applicant to 

have an application advanced out of 

turn (accorded special status) for 

examination under 37 CFR 1.102(e) if 

the applicant timely files a request for 

prioritized (Track One) examination 

accompanied by the appropriate fees 

and meets the other conditions of 37 

CFR 1.102(e). See MPEP 708.02(b)(2). 

The current fee schedule is available at: 

www.uspto.gov/learning-and-resources/ 

fees-and-payment/uspto-fee-schedule. 

The Track One Program does not have 

the restrictions of the COVID–19 Track 

One Program on the types of inventions 

for which special status may be sought, 

as the Track One Program does not 

require a connection to any particular 

technology. Moreover, delays associated 

with the determination of whether an 

application presents a claim that covers 

a product or process related to COVID– 

19 and whether the product or process 

was subject to an applicable FDA 

approval for COVID–19 use will be 

avoided under the Track One Program. 

Andrew Hirshfeld, 

Commissioner for Patents, Performing the 

Functions and Duties of the Under Secretary 

of Commerce for Intellectual Property and 

Director of the United States Patent and 

Trademark Office. 

[FR Doc. 2021–19114 Filed 9–2–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–16–P 

COMMITTEE FOR PURCHASE FROM 

PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR 

SEVERELY DISABLED 

Procurement List; Additions and 

Deletions 

AGENCY: Committee for Purchase From 

People Who Are Blind or Severely 

Disabled. 

ACTION: Additions to and deletions from 

the Procurement List. 


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