Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 100 / Tuesday, May 25, 2010 / Notices 29313 

patentability determinations faster in 

multiple jurisdictions. The USPTO 

currently has PPH arrangements with 

ten patent offices–those in Japan, the 

United Kingdom, the Republic of Korea, 

Canada, Australia, the European Patent 

Office (EPO), Denmark, Germany, 

Singapore and Finland. Notices 

regarding the PPH programs with these 

patent offices are available on the 

USPTO Web site at: http:// 

www.uspto.gov/patents/init_events/ 

pph/index.jsp. 

Under the PPH program, if an 

application filed in an Office of First 

Filing (OFF) receives an indication that 

at least one claim is patentable, a 

corresponding application with 

corresponding claims filed in the 

USPTO as the Office of Second Filing 

(OSF) may be advanced out of turn for 

examination. To have the request for 

participation in the PPH accepted in the 

USPTO, an applicant must make 

available to the USPTO the relevant 

work of the OFF as well as any 

necessary translation. In addition, the 

request for participation in the PPH, 

until now, had to be accompanied by a 

petition to make special under 37 CFR 

1.102(d) along with the required 

petition fee under 37 CFR 1.17(h). 

The PPH has proven to be a useful 

work-sharing vehicle, as shown by the 

following statistics (as of February 

2010): 

• Over 2,500 PPH requests received 

by the USPTO since 2006; 

• First action allowance rate for PPH 

applications is about 25%, about double 

the first action allowance rate for all 

applications; 

• Overall allowance rate for PPH 

applications is about 93%, about double 

the allowance rate for all applications; 

and 

• The average number of actions per 

disposal for PPH applications is about 

1.7, which is significantly less than the 

number of actions per disposal for nonPPH applications. 

While the PPH has been useful, it can 

be improved. The USPTO has taken a 

number of steps, in concert with the 

Japan Patent Office (JPO) and other PPH 

partners, to enhance the PPH framework 

to make it more user friendly and 

thereby encourage greater participation. 

In January 2010, the USPTO, JPO and 

EPO began a test implementation of an 

expanded PPH framework, to allow 

participation of the Patent Cooperation 

Treaty (PCT) national/regional phase 

applications when the International 

Authority has determined that one or 

more claims have novelty, inventive 

step and industrial applicability in the 

international phase. Previously, all PPH 

programs were confined to Paris 

Convention route applications. The 

expectation is that by expanding the 

PPH to include PCT work products, 

participation will increase. 

The USPTO is taking additional steps 

to enhance the PPH framework to make 

the programs more user friendly and 

thereby encourage more participation. 

All petitions to make special filed with 

a PPH request on or after May 25, 2010 

will be treated as a request that the 

Director order their application be 

advanced out of turn to expedite the 

business of the Office under 37 CFR 

1.102(a), and the petition fee set forth in 

37 CFR 1.17(h) will not be required. If 

the request for participation in the PPH 

and the request to the Director are 

granted, the application will be 

advanced out of turn for examination by 

order of the Director under 37 CFR 

1.102(a). 

Petitions to make special filed with a 

PPH request prior to May 25, 2010 will 

be treated under 37 CFR 1.102(d) and 

the petition fee set forth in 37 CFR 

1.17(h) will be required. 

Dated: May 18, 2010. 

David J. Kappos, 

Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual 

Property and Director of the United States 

Patent and Trademark Office. 

[FR Doc. 2010–12471 Filed 5–24–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–16–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

International Trade Administration 

[A–570–890] 

Wooden Bedroom Furniture from the 

People’s Republic of China: Extension 

of Time Limit for the Final Results of 

the Antidumping Duty Administrative 

Review 

AGENCY: Import Administration, 

International Trade Administration, 

Department of Commerce. 

EFFECTIVE DATE: May 25, 2010. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeff 

Pedersen or David Edmiston, AD/CVD 

Operations, Office 4, Import 

Administration, International Trade 

Administration, U.S. Department of 

Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution 

Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20230; 

telephone: (202) 482–2769, and (202) 

482–0989 respectively. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

On February 5, 2010, the Department 

of Commerce (the Department) 

published the preliminary results of the 

administrative review of the 

antidumping duty order on wooden 

bedroom furniture (WBF) from the 

People’s Republic of China (PRC), 

covering the period January 1, 2009 

through December 31, 2009. See 

Wooden Bedroom Furniture From the 

People’s Republic of China: Preliminary 

Results of Antidumping Duty 

Administrative Review and Intent To 

Rescind Review in Part, 75 FR 5952 

(February 5, 2010). The final results of 

this administrative review were 

originally due no later than June 5, 

2010. As explained in the memorandum 

from the Deputy Assistant Secretary for 

Import Administration, the Department 

has exercised its discretion to toll 

deadlines for the duration of the closure 

of the Federal Government from 

February 5, through February 12, 2010. 

Thus, all deadlines in this segment of 

the proceeding have been extended by 

seven days. The revised deadline for the 

final results of this review is currently 

June 12, 2010. See Memorandum to the 

Record from Ronald Lorentzen, DAS for 

Import Administration, regarding 

‘‘Tolling of Administrative Deadlines As 

a Result of the Government Closure 

During the Recent Snowstorm,’’ dated 

February 12, 2010. 

Extension of Time Limit of Final 

Results 

Section 751(a)(3)(A) of the Tariff Act 

of 1930, as amended (the Act), requires 

that the Department issue the final 

results of an administrative review 

within 120 days after the date on which 

the preliminary results are published. If 

it is not practicable to complete the 

review within that time period, section 

751(a)(3)(A) of the Act allows the 

Department to extend the deadline for 

the final results to a maximum of 180 

days after the date on which the 

preliminary results are published. 

The Department finds that it is not 

practicable to complete the final results 

of this review by June 12, 2010, because 

the Department needs additional time to 

consider over 30 complex issues the 

parties have raised. Therefore, in 

accordance with section 751(a)(3)(A) of 

the Act, the Department is extending the 

time limit for completion of the final 

results by 60 days to August 11, 2010. 

This notice is published in 

accordance with sections 751(a)(3)(A) 

and 777(i) of the Act. 

Dated: May 19, 2010. 

John M. Andersen, 

Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for 

Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 

Operations. 

[FR Doc. 2010–12566 Filed 5–24–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–DS–S 


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