In a notice published earlier this week in the Federal Register (80 Fed. Reg. 65649), the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a final rule revising the rules of practice to permit applicants to authorize the USPTO to give certain foreign IP offices access to all or part of the file contents of an unpublished U.S. patent application in order to satisfy a requirement for information imposed on a counterpart application filed with the foreign IP office.  The final rule also revises the rules of practice so that applicants will not be charged a fee when the USPTO provides a foreign IP office with an electronic copy of an application-as-filed or an electronic copy of file contents.

In addition to the rules changes, the notice indicates that the application data sheet (ADS) form (PTO/AIA/14) will be revised to include separate access authorizations for the priority document exchange (PDX) program and for the program by which U.S. search results are delivered to the European Patent Office (EPO).  The most noticeable difference between the prior ADS form and the revised ADS form will be that in the revised ADS form an "opt-out" check box rather than an "opt-in" check box will be included for each access authorization.  The notice notes that the revised ADS form will make it easier for applicants to give the necessary authorization for access to an application.

The notice contains a specific discussion of the rules changes at pages 65651-52 and comments (and the USPTO's responses to those comments) that were received by the USPTO in response to a notice of proposed rulemaking that was published in July of 2014 at pages 65652-53.

The changes in the final rule will take effect on November 30, 2015 and apply to all applications filed before, on, or after the effective date.