(458) Public Attendance At Board Hearings
Due to an increasing interest of the public to attend the
hearings conducted at the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences
(BPAI) and the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB), the following
procedures will become effective August 1, 2006, in order to
accommodate this objective.
Notification of Hearings:
Hearings open to the public will be posted in advance on the respective
websites of the BPAI and the TTAB. The website address of the BPAI is
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/dcom/bpai/index.html. The website address
of the TTAB is http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/dcom/ttab/index.html. The
posting will contain the time, date, hearing room, and proceeding number
set for a particular hearing session. Due to last minute cancellations or
no shows, there is no guaranty that a hearing on a particular proceeding
will occur, although it may be posted.
Hearing Room Admittance:
The BPAI and the TTAB share four hearing rooms, which are located on the
9th floor of the Madison East Building. The Hearing Rooms are designated as
"A" through "D". A given number of spaces in each hearing room are reserved
for party representatives. The remaining spaces in each hearing room may be
made available to the public. The maximum number of publicly available
spaces in each hearing room is as follows:
Hearing Room A: 55 spaces
Hearing Room B: 10 spaces
Hearing Room C: 10 spaces
Hearing Room D: 5 spaces
The BPAI and TTAB reserve the right to limit the number of attendees
even further.
Thirty minutes before the scheduled start of the hearing session,
members of the public should arrive at the lobby level, Madison East Guard
Desk and request a hearing badge for hearings in a specific hearing room,
e.g., A, B, C, or D. Attendees will need to surrender a picture ID in
exchange for a hearing badge. The Guard Desk will only issue a given number
of hearing badges for each hearing room on a first come, first served
basis. No advance requests for attendance by the public will be permitted.
Fifteen minutes before the start of a hearing session a hearing usher will
escort the public attendees with badges to the hearing rooms. Upon exiting
the building, hearing badges are turned in at the Guard Desk in exchange
for the attendee's picture ID.
Hearing Room Protocol/Decorum:
. No food or drink is permitted in the public gallery of the hearing
room.
. Proper decorum is required with respect to both behavior and dress for
that of a courtroom.
. When a hearing is in session, no one should be heard except for
counsel making argument or a judge.
. No personal recording devices of any kind (audio or visual) will be
permitted in the hearing room.
. All cell phones or pagers must be turned off.
. Owners of computers brought to the hearing room must acquire an
equipment pass from the hearing usher for the computer. Upon exiting the
 Top of Notices (458) December 27, 2011 |
US PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE |
1373 CNOG 3263 |
building at the Guard's Desk, the equipment pass is surrendered so as to
permit removal of the computer from the building.
. Once granted entry to the hearing session, public attendees are
required to stay for the entire hearing session even though there may be
more than one proceeding scheduled during the hearing session.
. Improper hearing room behavior may result in removal from the hearing
room or other sanctions.
June 27, 2006 MICHAEL R. FLEMING
Chief Administrative Patent Judge
J. DAVID SAMS
Chief Administrative Trademark Judge
[1308 TMOG 147]