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Question:
What rule are design practitioners registered under and what can they practice in?
Answer:
Design patent practitioners are registered under 37 C.F.R. 11.6(d) and can only practice in design patent matters.
In contrast, patent practitioners registered under 37 C.F.R. 11.6(a)-(c) can practice in all patent matters, which includes design patent matters.
Chapter Details:
The answer to this question can be found in chapter 400 of the MPEP. This chapter covers Representative of Applicant or Owner.
The answer is from the 9th Edition, Revision 01.2024, Published November 2024. Depending on future changes to the MPEP, the question and answer may or may not be applicable in later Editions or revisions.
Section Summary:
This question and answer comes from section 402 of the MPEP. The following is a brief summary of section 402.
402 Power of Attorney; Naming Representative
Learn about selecting a power of attorney. An applicant may give power of attorney to one or more patent practitioners or one or more joint inventors.
This section also discusses conditions for registered practitioners, ineffective power of attorney details, who may sign the power of attorney and appointments in applications filed on or after September 16, 2012. Signature requirements are covered extensively in addition to the revocation of the power of attorney.
The applicant may revoke the power of attorney. These rules are different between applications filed on or after September 16, 2012 and before September 16, 2012. In addition to the application revoking the power of attorney, the attorney or agent may withdraw.
The assignee may also revoke the power of attorney with differences in the rules between applications filed on or after September 16, 2012 and those filed before September 16, 2012.
In addition, this section covers changes to the power of attorney during an interference or derivation proceeding. Lastly, the power of attorney generally requires a signature by all the applicants or owners of the application, but may be accepted with less if a petition is granted.