[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 126 (Tuesday, June 30, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Page 39168]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-14071]



[[Page 39168]]

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Patent and Trademark Office


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) Appeals

    The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will submit 
the following information collection request to the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance in accordance with 
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, on or after the date of 
publication of this notice. The USPTO invites comment on this 
information collection renewal, which helps the USPTO assess the impact 
of its information collection requirements and minimize the public's 
reporting burden. Public comments were previously requested via the 
Federal Register on April 20, 2020 during a 60-day comment period. This 
notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.
    Agency: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Department of 
Commerce.
    Title: Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) Appeals.
    OMB Control Number: 0651-0063.
    Form Number(s): (AIA = American Invents; SB = Specimen Book).
     PTO/AIA/31: (Notice of Appeal from the Examiner to the 
Patent Trial and Appeal Board).
     PTO/SB/31: (Notice of Appeal).
     PTO/AIA/32: (Request for Oral Hearing before the Patent 
Trial and Appeal Board).
     PTO/SB/32: (Request for Oral Hearing before the Patent 
Trial and Appeal Board).
    Type of Review: Extension and revision of a currently approved 
information collection.
    Number of Respondents: 22,664 respondents.
    Average Hours per Response: The USPTO estimates 48,886 responses 
and that it takes the public approximately .5 to 32 hours to complete 
this information collection, depending on the complexity of the 
request. This includes the time to gather the necessary information, 
prepare the brief, petition, and other papers, and submit the completed 
request to the USPTO.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Burden Hours: 565,927 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Non-Hour Cost Burden: $48,712,078.
    Needs and Uses: The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB or Board) 
is established by statute under 35 U.S.C. 6 (American Inventors 
Protection Act of 1999). This statute directs, in relevant part, that 
PTAB shall ``on written appeal of an applicant, review adverse 
decisions of examiners upon applications for patents pursuant to 
section 134(a).'' PTAB has the authority, under 35 U.S.C. 134 and 306 
(America Invents Act) to decide appeals in applications and ex parte 
reexamination proceedings, and under pre-AIA sections of the Patent 
Act, i.e., 35 U.S.C. 134 and 315, to decide appeals in inter partes 
reexamination proceedings.
    The Board's responsibilities under the statute include the review 
of ex parte appeals from adverse decisions of examiners in those 
situations where a written appeal is taken by a dissatisfied applicant 
or patent owner. In inter partes reexamination appeals, PTAB reviews 
examiner's decisions adverse to a patent owner or a third-party 
requester. PTAB's opinions and decisions are usually publicly available 
and published on the USPTO website.
    The items associated with this information collection include 
appeals in applications and ex parte reexamination proceedings, and 
appeals in inter partes reexamination proceedings that are governed by 
the regulations in 37 CFR 41. Failure to comply with the appropriate 
regulations may result in dismissal of the appeal or denial of entry of 
the submission.
    The name of this information collection is being changed from 
``PTAB Actions'' to ``PTAB Appeals'' to better reflect the content of 
the information collection. In addition, this renewal adds three items 
currently approved in another information collection (0651-0031: Patent 
Processing) to include all items related to patent appeals in a single 
information collection. These three items are: Notice of Appeal, 
Amendment to Cancel Claims During an Appeal, and Request for Oral 
Hearing. A separate change request will be submitted to remove these 
three items from that information collection (0651-0031: Patent 
Processing).
    Affected Public: Individuals or households; private sector. The 
USPTO estimates that the majority (95%) of respondents (i.e., 
applicants, patent owners, and requesters) will be from the private 
sector, but that about 5% will be individuals and households.
    Frequency: On occasion.
    Respondent's Obligation: Required to Obtain or Retain Benefits.
    This information collection request may be viewed at 
www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view Department of 
Commerce, USPTO information collections currently under review by OMB.
    Written comments and recommendations for this information 
collection should be submitted within 30 days of the publication of 
this notice on the following website www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. 
Find this particular information collection by selecting ``Currently 
under 30-day Review--Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search 
function and entering either the title of the information collection or 
the OMB Control Number 0651-0063.
    Further information can be obtained by:
     Email: [email protected]. Include ``0651-
0063 copy request'' in the subject line of the message.
     Mail: Kimberly Hardy, Office of the Chief Administrative 
Officer, United States Patent and Trademark Office, P.O. Box 1450, 
Alexandria, VA 22313-1450.

Kimberly Hardy,
Information Collections Officer, Office of the Chief Administrative 
Officer, United States Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. 2020-14071 Filed 6-29-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-16-P