The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has discontinued its use of the PTO/SB/84 form, “Authorization to Act in a Representative Capacity.” The discontinuation does not limit the ability of patent practitioners to act in a representative capacity pursuant to 37 CFR 1.34. 

The USPTO discontinued its use of the PTO/SB/84 form because it was used infrequently and was redundant with other forms for purposes of establishing the authorization to conduct an interview and the authority to present oral arguments in an appeal proceeding. For any application in which a PTO/SB/84 form is in the application file, there will be no change in authorization or status. USPTO personnel will treat any PTO/SB/84 form filed in an application subsequent to today’s discontinuation as having no effect. 

For more information, please see the full text of the Official Gazette Notice on our Patent Related Notices webpage.