In one of his first actions as President of the United States, Barack Obama has directed, via a memo by his Chief of Staff, Rahm Emmanuel, that Federal departments and agencies refrain from sending any new proposed regulation to the Office of the Federal Register (OFR) for comment and publication unless and until President Obama’s team has had a chance to review such proposed regulations. Among other regulatory matters, this action by President Obama will likely delay the publication of any new rules for the USPTO, whose rules have been in a state of flux for some time.
This action by President Obama, in and of itself, is not surprising – but what will be of greater interest is how the Obama administration uses the opportunity to put its own mark on PTO rules, and ultimately, U.S. patent law practice.
A copy of Mr. Emmanuel’s memo may be found at http://www.govexec.com/pdfs/012109rb1.pdf.
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