CLARIFICATION OF REEXAMINATION PROCEDURE ACT OF 1999; TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS.

SEC. 13202. CLARIFICATION OF REEXAMINATION PROCEDURE ACT OF 1999; TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS. (a) Optional Inter Partes Reexamination Procedures.—Title 35, United States Code, is amended as follows: (1) Section 311 is amended— (A) in subsection (a), by striking “person” and inserting “third-party requester”; and (B) in subsection (c), by striking “Unless the requesting person is the owner of the patent, the” and inserting “The”. (2) Section 312 is amended— (A) in subsection (a), by striking the second sentence; and (B) in subsection (b), by striking “, if any”. (3) Section 314(b)(1) is amended— (A) by striking “(1) This” and all that follows through “(2)” and inserting “(1)”; (B) by striking “the third-party requester shall receive a copy” and inserting “the Office shall send to the third- party requester a copy”; and (C) by redesignating paragraph (3) as paragraph (2). (4) Section 315(c) is amended by striking “United States Code,”. (5) Section 317 is amended— (A) in subsection (a), by striking “patent owner nor the third-party requester, if any, nor privies of either” and inserting “third-party requester nor its privies”; and (B) in subsection (b), by striking “United States Code,”. (b) Conforming Amendments.— (1) Appeal to the board of patent appeals and interferences.—Subsections (a), (b), and (c) of section 134 of title 35, United States Code, are each amended by striking “administrative patent judge” each place it appears and inserting “primary examiner”. (2) Proceeding on appeal.—Section 143 of title 35, United States Code, is amended by amending the third sentence to 116 STAT. 1902read as follows: “In an ex parte case or any reexamination case, the Director shall submit to the court in writing the grounds for the decision of the Patent and Trademark Office, addressing all the issues involved in the appeal. The court shall, before hearing an appeal, give notice of the time and place of the hearing to the Director and the parties in the appeal.” (c) Clerical Amendments.— (1) Section 4604(a) of the Intellectual Property and Communications Omnibus Reform Act of 1999, as enacted by section 1000(a)(9) of Public Law 106-113, is amended by striking “Part 3” and inserting “Part III”. (2) Section 4604(b) of that Act is amended by striking “title 25” and inserting “title 35”. (d) Effective Date.—The amendments made by section 4605 (b), (c), and (e) of the Intellectual Property and Communications Omnibus Reform Act, as enacted by section 1000(a)(9) of Public Law 106-113, shall apply to any reexamination filed in the United States Patent and Trademark Office on or after the date of enactment of Public Law 106-113.