Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 107 / Friday, June 3, 2022 / Notices 33753 

claim that complies with the eligibility 

requirements of this notice (that is, the 

claim does not cover a product or 

process that mitigates climate change by 

reducing greenhouse gas emissions); (2) 

The application claims the benefit of the 

filing date of two or more prior filed 

applications that are nonprovisional 

U.S. applications and/or international 

applications designating the United 

States; and (3) The petition was not filed 

with the application or entry into the 

national stage under 35 U.S.C. 371 or 

within 30 days of the application’s filing 

date or national stage entry date. 

Part III. Requirement for Restriction 

If the claims in the application are 

directed to multiple inventions, the 

examiner may make a requirement for 

restriction or unity of invention in 

accordance with current restriction 

practice. The examiner will attempt to 

contact the applicant following the 

procedure for the telephone restriction 

practice set forth in MPEP § 812.01. If a 

telephone restriction requirement is 

made, applicant must make an election 

without traverse to an invention that 

meets the eligibility requirements of this 

notice. If applicant refuses to make an 

election (for example, by failing to reply 

to a request for a telephonic interview 

within five business days of the 

examiner’s request), the special status of 

the application will be terminated and 

the examiner may mail a written 

restriction requirement. 

Part IV. Office Actions and Replies 

Under the Pilot Program 

Applications that are accorded special 

status under the pilot program will be 

placed on an examiner’s special docket 

until a first office action on the merits. 

After the first office action on the 

merits, the application will be placed on 

the examiner’s regular docket. 

A reply to an office action must be 

fully responsive to the rejections, 

objections, and requirements made by 

the examiner. Any amendment filed in 

reply to an office action may be treated 

as not fully responsive if it attempts to: 

(1) Add claims that would result in 

more than three independent claims or 

more than 20 total claims pending in the 

application; (2) add any multiple 

dependent claim(s); or (3) cancel all 

claims that meet the requirements of the 

pilot program (that is, the application no 

longer contains any claims that cover a 

product or process that reduces 

greenhouse gas emissions and thereby 

mitigate climate change). If a reply to a 

nonfinal office action is not fully 

responsive because it does not comply 

with the pilot claim requirements but is 

a bona fide attempt to advance the 

application to final action, the examiner 

may, at their discretion, provide a 

shortened statutory period of two (2) 

months for the applicant to supply a 

fully responsive reply. Extensions of 

this time period under 37 CFR 1.136(a) 

to the notice of nonresponsive 

amendment will be permitted, but in no 

case can any extension carry the date for 

reply to this notice beyond the 

maximum period of SIX MONTHS set 

by statute (35 U.S.C. 133). However, any 

further nonresponsive amendment 

typically will not be treated as bona 

fide, and therefore, the time period set 

in the prior notice will continue to run. 

Part V. After-Final and Appeal 

Procedures 

Any amendment, affidavit, or other 

evidence after a final office action and 

prior to appeal must comply with 37 

CFR 1.116. During the appeal process, 

the application will be treated in 

accordance with the normal appeal 

procedure (see MPEP Chapter 1200). 

Part VI. Proceedings Outside the 

Normal Examination Process 

If an application becomes involved in 

proceedings outside the normal 

examination process (for example, a 

secrecy order, derivation proceeding, or 

petitions under 37 CFR 1.181–1.183), 

the USPTO will place the application in 

special status under the pilot program 

before and after such proceedings. 

During those proceedings, however, the 

application will not be under special 

status. For example, while under a 

secrecy order, the application will be 

treated in accordance with the normal 

secrecy order procedures and will not 

be in special status under the pilot 

program. Once the proceeding outside 

the normal examination process is 

completed, the application will 

continue in special status as described 

above in this notice. 

Part VII. Withdrawal From the Pilot 

Program 

There is no provision for withdrawal 

from the pilot program. An applicant 

may abandon an application that has 

been granted special status under the 

pilot program in favor of a continuing 

application. However, a continuing 

application will not automatically be 

granted special status based on the 

petition filed in the parent application. 

Each application (including each 

continuing application) must, on its 

own, meet all requirements for special 

status under the pilot program, and be 

accompanied by its own petition as 

detailed in Part I (2) above. 

Katherine K. Vidal, 

Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual 

Property and Director of the United States 

Patent and Trademark Office. 

[FR Doc. 2022–11930 Filed 6–2–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–16–P 

COMMITTEE FOR PURCHASE FROM 

PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR 

SEVERELY DISABLED 

Procurement List; Proposed Deletions 

AGENCY: Committee for Purchase From 

People Who Are Blind or Severely 

Disabled. 

ACTION: Proposed deletion from the 

Procurement List. 

SUMMARY: The Committee is proposing 

to delete a service(s) from the 

Procurement List that was furnished by 

nonprofit agencies employing persons 

who are blind or have other severe 

disabilities. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before: July 3, 2022. 

ADDRESSES: Committee for Purchase 

From People Who Are Blind or Severely 

Disabled, 1401 S Clark Street, Suite 715, 

Arlington, Virginia 22202–4149. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

further information or to submit 

comments contact: Michael R. 

Jurkowski, Telephone: (703) 785–6404, 

or email CMTEFedReg@AbilityOne.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This 

notice is published pursuant to 41 

U.S.C. 8503 (a)(2) and 41 CFR 51–2.3. Its 

purpose is to provide interested persons 

an opportunity to submit comments on 

the proposed actions. 

Deletions 

The following service is proposed for 

deletion from the Procurement List: 

Service(s) 

Service Type: Janitorial/Custodial Service 

Mandatory for: U.S. Army Reserve, New 

Kensington Memorial USARC/BMA 106, 

2450 Leechburg Road, New Kensington, 

PA 

Designated Source of Supply: Beaver County 

Association for the Blind, Beaver Falls, 

PA 

Contracting Activity: DEPT OF THE ARMY, 

W6QK ACC–PICA 

Michael R. Jurkowski, 

Acting Director, Business Operations. 

[FR Doc. 2022–11937 Filed 6–2–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6353–01–P 


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