[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 189 (Tuesday, September 29, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Page 60980]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-21483]
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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; Responses to Office Action and Voluntary Amendment Forms
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 July 29, 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: Responses to Office Action and Voluntary Amendment Forms.
OMB Control Number: 0651-0050.
Form Number(s):
PTO-1957 (Response to Office Action)
PTO-1960 (Request for Reconsideration After Final Office
Action)
PTO-1966 (Voluntary Amendment Not in Response to USPTO Office
Action/Letter)
PTO-1771 (Post-Approval/Publication/Post-Notice of Allowance
(NOA) Amendment)
PTO-1771 (Petition to Amend Basis Post-Publication)
PTO-1822 (Response to Suspension Inquiry or Letter of
Suspension)
Type of Review: Extension and revision of a currently approved
information collection.
Number of Respondents: 393,657 respondents.
Average Hours per Response: The USPTO estimates 393,665 responses
and that it will take the public between 15 minutes to 40 minutes to
complete this information collection, depending on the complexity of
the submission. This includes the time to gather the necessary
information, prepare the appropriate documents, and submit the
completed items to the USPTO.
Estimated Total Annual Respondent Burden Hours: 253,058 hours.
Estimated Total Annual Non-Hour Cost Burden: $101,223,200.
Needs and Uses: This collection of information is required by the
Trademark Act (Act), 15 U.S.C. 1051 et seq., which provides for the
Federal registration of trademarks, service marks, collective trademark
and service marks, collective membership marks, and certification
marks. Individuals and businesses that use such marks, or intend to use
such marks, in interstate commerce may file an application to register
their marks with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
The USPTO also administers the Trademark Act through Title 37 of the
Code of Federal Regulations. These regulations allow the USPTO to
request and receive information required to process applications and
allows applicants to submit certain amendments to their applications.
This information collection includes information that was not submitted
with the initial application and is needed by the USPTO to review
applications for trademark registration.
In some cases, the USPTO issues Office Actions to applicants who
have applied to register a mark, requesting information that was not
provided with the initial submission, but is required before the
issuance of a registration. Also, the USPTO may determine that a mark
is not entitled to registration, pursuant to one or more provisions of
the Trademark Act. In such cases, the USPTO will issue an Office Action
advising the applicant of the refusal to register the mark. Applicants
reply to these Office Actions by providing the required information
and/or by putting forth legal arguments as to why the refusal of
registration should be withdrawn.
Applicants may also supplement their applications and provide
further information by filing a Voluntary Amendment Not in Response to
USPTO Office Action/Letter, a Request for Reconsideration after Final
Office Action, a Post-Approval/Publication/Post-Notice of Allowance
(NOA) Amendment, a Petition to Amend Basis Post-Publication, or a
Response to Suspension Inquiry or Letter of Suspension. In rare
instances, an applicant may also submit a Substitute Trademark/
Servicemark, Substitute Certification Mark, Substitute Collective
Membership Mark, or Substitute Collective Trademark/Servicemark
application.
Affected Public: Private Sector; 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 0651-0050.
Further information can be obtained by:
Email: [email protected]. Include ``0651-
0050 information 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. 2020-21483 Filed 9-28-20; 8:45 am]
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