USPTO Publishes Proposed Guidelines On USPTO CLE Credit

The USPTO has published proposed guidelines on the types of courses and activities that will qualify for USPTO CLE credit, which practitioners may voluntarily report in the mandatory biennial registration statements that will be required beginning March 1, 2022. 

Mandatory Biennial Registration Statements, But Not Mandatory CLE

The final rules package published August 3, 2020 included changes to 37 CFR part 11, relating to practice before the USPTO that will require registered practitioners to file, on a biennial basis, "a registration statement ... for the purpose of ascertaining whether such practitioner desires to remain in an active status." Failure to file a registration statement may result in administrative suspension, i.e., loss of authorization to practice before the USPTO.