This Month at ACUS: August 2022

This series highlights selected ACUS projects. To learn more about ongoing projects, subscribe to our mailing list.

 

SENIOR ATTORNEY POSITION AT ACUS

ACUS is actively recruiting for a senior-level Attorney Advisor position and will consider all applications received through Monday, September 12. The full announcement and application instructions are available here.

 

NEW PUBLIC MEMBERS, SENIOR FELLOWS, SPECIAL COUNSEL, AND COMMITTEE CHAIRS

ACUS is pleased to welcome seven new public members and seven new senior fellows. New public members are: Maggie Blackhawk, Jennifer Dickey, Abbe Gluck, Thomas Johnson, Jr., David Lewis, Mila Sohoni, and Kate Todd.

New senior fellows are: Cary Coglianese, Renée Landers, Jennifer Nou, Nicholas Parrillo, Sidney Shapiro, Christopher Walker, and Russell Wheeler.

Matthew Wiener has also been appointed a Special Counsel, as announced in a recent news release.

We are also pleased to announce two new committee chairs. Public Member Bertrall Ross will serve as Chair of the Rulemaking Committee, and Eloise Pasachoff will serve as Chair of the Regulation Committee.

 

UPDATES ON U.S. PATENT SMALL CLAIMS COURT STUDY

On Wednesday, August 3, 2022, ACUS convened the consultative group, which is advising ACUS on questions regarding the study’s methodology for quantitative, qualitative, and legal research. The meeting was open to the public and meeting minutes are posted on the project’s webpage.

ACUS requested information from members of the public on issues associated with and options for designing a small claims patent court as part of this ongoing study for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Comments received so far have also been posted to the project’s webpage. ACUS will continue to accept comments submitted to info@acus.gov through Friday, September 2, 2022.

 

NEW INFORMATION INTERCHANGE BULLETIN

Congress charged ACUS with arranging for the "interchange among administrative agencies of information potentially useful in improving administrative procedure" (5 U.S.C. § 594). As part of this mission, ACUS regularly issues short, one-page Information Interchange Bulletins (IIB’s) on discrete topics of administrative procedure. August’s IIB has been posted and provides an overview of the basics of the Paperwork Reduction Act.