Standardization of the Patent Term Adjustment Statement Regarding Information Disclosure Statements

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or Office) is revising the rules of practice pertaining to patent term adjustment to require that the patent term adjustment statement regarding information disclosure statements be submitted on an Office form using the appropriate document code. The use of the Office form and document code will streamline certain aspects of prosecution by more accurately capturing and accounting for the patent term adjustment statement without unnecessary back-and-forth between the Office and applicant. It will also conserve resources by eliminating the need for a manual review of the patent term adjustment statement. Applicants who submit a patent term adjustment statement regarding information disclosure statements without using the Office form or the appropriate document code will need to request reconsideration of the patent term adjustment for the information disclosure statement to not be considered a failure to engage in reasonable efforts to conclude the prosecution (processing or examination) of the application. The Office conducts a redetermination of patent term adjustment in response to this request, and the redetermination will include the Office's manual review of the patent term adjustment statement.