Source: https://www.pharmapatentsblog.com/2013/08/01/act-soon-to-obtain-additional-patent-term-adjustment-for-u-s-national-stage-applications/
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 16:43:56+00:00

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The AIA Technical Corrections Act made several changes to the Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) statute, including one that could mean additional Patent Term Adjustment for U.S. national stage applications. Although the law was enacted on January 14, 2013, with a default effective date of the same date, the USPTO did not publish its implementing regulations until April 1, 2013, and does not appear to have reconfigured its PTA calculator to reflect the current law and rules. Thus, patent holders with patents granted on or after January 14, 2013 may want to review the PTA calculations to determine whether additional PTA may be available. It is my understanding that the final deadline for requesting additional PTA under these statutory and regulatory changes for the earliest eligible patents expires August 15, 2013 (seven months from Tuesday, January 15, 2013).
As I explained previously, the AIA Technical Corrections Act, which stemmed from HR 6621, made several substantive changes to the PTA statute. One set of changes impacts PTA for U.S. national stage applications, by treating “commencement of the national stage” as equivalent to the filing date of a direct U.S. application (an application filed under 35 USC § 111(a)). This change impacts the calculation of “A delay,” and in particular, the start date for the fourteen month clock that runs against the USPTO to issue the first Office Action or Notice of Allowance.
§ 1.702 Grounds for adjustment of patent term due to examination delay under the Patent Term Guarantee Act of 1999 (original applications, other than designs, filed on or after May 29, 2000).
§ 1.703 Period of adjustment of patent term due to examination delay.
Under the original statute and previous rule, this fourteen month clock did not start running until “the date on which an international application fulfilled the requirements of section 371,” including the submission of an executed Inventor Oath/Declaration. Because an executed Inventor Oath/Declaration might not be submitted until many months after the commencement date, this change in the “A delay” calculation can mean significant amounts of additional PTA for U.S. national stage applications. Indeed, some patents that I have seen may be entitled to hundreds of days of additional PTA, because the PTO took so long to issue a Notice of Missing Requirements, which in turn postponed the filing of the executed Inventor Oath/Declaration, and fulfillment of all § 371 requirements.
By the terms of the AIA Technical Corrections Act, these statutory changes took effect on January 14, 2013 (the date of enactment) and apply to “proceedings commenced on or after” that date. According to the USPTO, a PTA “proceeding” commences when the USPTO provides its PTA determination when a patent is granted. Thus, the USPTO has determined that most of these rule changes apply to patents granted on or after January 14, 2013, even though the USPTO does not yet seem to be following the new provisions.
§ 1.705 Patent term adjustment determination.
(a) The patent will include notification of any patent term adjustment under 35 U.S.C. 154(b).
Thus, under the AIA Technical Corrections Act, the USPTO is no longer required to provide its initial PTA determination with the Notice of Allowance (although it still is doing so), but rather only when the patent grants (practically, with the Issue Notification). Further, while the rules retain the previous two month post-grant period for challenging a PTA award, the rules now make this time period extendable as a matter of right under 37 CFR § 1.136(a) for up to five additional months.
U.S. patents usually are issued on Tuesdays, and the first Tuesday after January 14, 2013 was January 15, 2013. This suggests that the final deadline for requesting additional PTA under these statutory and regulatory changes for the earliest eligible patents expires August 15, 2013 (seven months from Tuesday, January 15, 2013, which would require a five month extension of time).

References: § 111

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 § 371

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