[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 238 (Wednesday, December 11, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 76164-76166]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-31193]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Patent and Trademark Office


Initial Patent Applications

ACTION: Proposed collection; comment request.

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SUMMARY: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), as part 
of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, 
invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this 
opportunity to comment on the revision of a continuing information 
collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public 
Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)).

DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before February 10, 
2003.

ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments to Susan K. Brown, Records 
Officer, Office of Data Architecture and Services, Data Administration 
Division, USPTO, Suite 310, 2231 Crystal Drive, Washington, DC 20231; 
by telephone at (703) 308-7400; or by electronic mail at 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information 
should be directed to Robert J. Spar, Director, Office of Patent Legal 
Administration, USPTO, Washington, DC 20231; by telephone at (703) 308-
5107; or by electronic mail at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

I. Abstract

    Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8 of the Constitution provides that 
Congress shall have the power . . .'' [t]o promote the progress of 
science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and 
inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and 
discoveries.'' Congress has exercised this grant of power under the 
Constitution to enact the patent statute, Title 35, U.S.C., and to 
establish the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
    The USPTO is required by 35 U.S.C. 131 to examine applications for 
patents. An applicant must provide sufficient information to allow the 
USPTO to properly examine the application to determine whether it meets 
the criteria set forth in the patent statute and regulations to be 
issued as a patent. The USPTO administers the statute through various 
rules in 37 CFR 1.16 through 1.84. The patent statute and regulations 
require that an application for patent (or application package) include 
the following collections of information:
    (1) A specification containing a description of the invention and 
at least one claim defining the property right sought by the applicant;
    (2) a drawing or photograph, where necessary, for an understanding 
of the invention;
    (3) an oath or declaration signed by the applicant; and
    (4) a filing fee.
    The ``American Inventors Protection Act of 1999'' brought some 
changes to the patent application process. This act amended 35 U.S.C. 
122 to provide for the publication of patent applications after the 
expiration of a period of eighteen months from the earliest filing date 
for which a benefit is sought under Title 35, United States Code. It 
also amended 35 U.S.C. 119 and 120 to permit applicants to petition the 
USPTO to accept a delayed priority claim. As a result of this act, the 
USPTO amended 35 U.S.C. 132 to allow applicants to request (for a fee) 
the continued examination of an application as an alternative to 
submitting a continued prosecution application. With the establishment 
of the request for continued examination practice, the USPTO is 
eliminating the continued prosecution application practice for all of 
the applications, with the exception of the design patent applications.
    This information collection contains both paper and electronic 
forms. New utility and provisional applications may be submitted 
electronically through the Electronic Filing System (EFS). The 
specification for these applications is created through the authoring 
tools that can be downloaded free of charge from the USPTO website. 
Through the Electronic Packaging and Validation Engine (ePAVE) (which 
applicants can also download from the USPTO Web site), applicants can 
create the Application Transmittal, the Fee Transmittal, and the 
Application Data Sheet that are submitted, in addition to the 
specification, as part of the electronic patent application package. 
The claims, drawings, oaths, declarations, powers of attorney, and 
small entity statements are scanned or converted into images and 
attached to the electronic patent application package. Once the 
specification and claims are completed, the necessary forms created, 
and the images attached to the application, the ePAVE software will 
then bundle, compress, and encrypt the files for submission to the 
USPTO. The EFS sends the applicant an acknowledgment receipt after the 
application package has been received, decrypted, and decompressed. The 
EFS uses public key infrastructure (PKI) technology for secure 
electronic communications so authorized filers must obtain a customer 
number and a digital certificate.
    The Application Data Sheet can be submitted in paper, in addition 
to electronic transmission. However, it must be noted that this is a 
format and not an official paper form. As such, neither the paper nor 
the electronic versions have form numbers. The Application Data Sheet 
is only used in the new utility, plant, and design applications.

II. Method of Collection

    By mail, facsimile (limited to petitions to accept delayed priority 
claims and requests for continued prosecution applications), or hand 
delivery to the USPTO. New utility and provisional applications can 
also be submitted electronically through the EFS.

III. Data

    OMB Number: 0651-0032.
    Form Number(s): PTO/SB/01/01A/02A/02B/03/03A/04/05/06/07/13/PCT/16/
17/18/19/29/29A/101 through 110.
    Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households; businesses or other 
for-profits; not-for-profit institutions; and the Federal Government.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 452,487 responses per year.
    Estimated Time Per Response: The USPTO estimates that it takes the 
public approximately 17 minutes to 10 hours and 45 minutes (0.28 hours 
to 10.75 hours) to complete this information, depending on the request. 
This includes time to gather the necessary information, prepare the 
application, petition, or CD submission, and submit the completed 
request to the USPTO. The USPTO believes that it takes the same amount 
of time to gather the necessary information, prepare the new utility or 
provisional application, and submit it to the USPTO, whether the 
applicant submits it electronically or in paper form. There are 26 
forms in this collection.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Burden Hours: 4,169,768 hours per 
year.

[[Page 76165]]

    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Cost Burden: $1,050,781,314 per 
year. The USPTO expects that all of the information in this collection, 
with the exception of the CD submissions of oversized new utility and 
provisional applications that cannot be submitted electronically 
through EFS, will be prepared by an attorney. The USPTO expects that 
the oversized CD submissions will be prepared by paraprofessionals. 
Using the professional hourly rate of $252 per hour for associate 
attorneys in private firms, the USPTO estimates that the respondent 
cost burden for submitting all of the information in this collection, 
with the exception of the oversized CD submissions, will be 
$1,050,781,284 per year. Using the paraprofessional hourly rate of $30 
per hour, the USPTO estimates that the respondent cost burden for 
submitting the oversized CD submissions will be $30 per year. The total 
respondent cost burden is $1,050,781,314 per year.

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                                                                                                      Estimated
                                                                                         Estimated      annual
                        Item                             Estimated time for response       annual       burden
                                                                                         responses      hours
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Original New Utility/Plant/Design Applications and    10 hours and 45 minutes.........      275,506    2,961,690
 Continuation/Divisional of an International
 Application--No Application Data Sheet.
Electronic Original New Utility/Plant/Design          10 hours and 45 minutes.........        3,148       33,841
 Applications--No Application Data Sheet.
Original New Utility/Plant/Design Applications--      10 hours and 36 minutes.........       30,612      324,487
 Application Data Sheet.
Electronic Original New Utility/Plant/Design          10 hours and 36 minutes.........          350        3,710
 Applications--Application Data Sheet.
Continuation/Divisional Applications--Utility/Plant/  54 minutes......................       34,707       31,236
 Design.
Continued Prosecution Applications--Design..........  24 minutes......................          263          105
Continuation-in-Part Applications--Utility/Plant/     5 hours and 15 minutes..........       17,364       91,161
 Design.
Provisional Applications............................  8 hours.........................       89,789      718,312
Electronic Provisional Applications.................  8 hours.........................          640        5,120
Petition to Accept Delayed Priority Claim...........  1 hour..........................          105          105
CD Submissions of Oversized New Utility and           17 minutes......................            3            1
 Provisional Applications That Cannot be Submitted
 Electronically via EFS:.
    *Application Transmittal Form...................
    *Cover Letter...................................
                                                                                       --------------
        Total.......................................  ................................      452,487    4,169,768
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    Estimated Total Annual Non-hour Respondent Cost Burden: 
$262,216,319 per year. There are capital start-up, recordkeeping, and 
postage costs, as well as filing fees, associated with this information 
collection. These costs are not applicable to all of the information in 
this collection, however.
    Applicants can submit new utility and provisional applications 
electronically through the EFS. These applications require attachments 
that must be in a TIFF format in order to be submitted electronically. 
If these documents are not in this format, applicants may need a 
scanner in order to convert their images and documentation into the 
TIFF format. The USPTO estimates that the average cost of a scanner is 
$200.
    Applicants can use Compact Disk-Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) or 
Compact Disk-Recordables (CD-R) to submit patent applications 
containing large computer program listings to the USPTO. New utility or 
provisional applications that exceed 10 megabytes cannot be submitted 
electronically through EFS, so applicants have the option to copy these 
applications onto CD-ROMs or CD-Rs as well. To make these CD-ROM/CD-R 
copies, applicants must have a CD drive capable of recording onto CD-R 
media (a ``CD burner''), CD recording software, blank CD-R media (CDs), 
cases and labels for the CDs, and a padded mailing envelope for 
shipping. The average cost of a CD burner is approximately $200, 
depending on the speed and type of PC connection. Commercial software 
for creating CDs, such as Easy CD Creator 5.0, retails for 
approximately $100, although basic CD recording software is typically 
included with the CD burner. Blank CD-R media with plastic jewel cases 
can be purchased for approximately $10 for 10 blank CDs, or about $1 
per disc. The average cost of software for labeling CDs, including 
blank labels and case inserts, is approximately $20. Padded 8.5 x 11-
inch mailing envelopes for safely shipping the CDs cost approximately 
$12 for a package of 12, or about $1 per envelope. In sum, the USPTO 
estimates the additional costs for the hardware, software, and supplies 
necessary for CD submissions to be approximately $342 per year. The 
total capital start-up costs for this collection are $542 per year.
    The applications, the petition to accept a delayed priority claim, 
and the oversized CD submissions may be submitted by mail through the 
United States Postal Service. The USPTO recommends that applicants file 
initial patent applications (which also include the continued 
prosecution, continuation and divisional, continuation-in-part, and 
provisional applications) by Express Mail to establish the filing date 
(otherwise the filing date of the application will be the date that it 
is received at the USPTO). The USPTO estimates that the average cost 
for sending an initial application by Express Mail will be $17.85, and 
that customers filing documents associated with these initial 
applications may choose this option to mail their submissions to the 
USPTO. Therefore, the USPTO estimates that up to 448,241 submissions 
per year may be mailed to the USPTO at an average Express Mail rate of 
$17.85, for a total postage cost of $8,001,102. If the applicant sends 
the petition for delayed priority claim by first-class mail, the 
applicant may also include a signed certification of the date of 
mailing in order to receive credit for timely filing. The USPTO 
estimates that the average first-class postage cost for a mailed 
submission will be 49 cents, and that customers filing the petitions 
for priority claim may choose to mail their submissions to the USPTO. 
Therefore, the USPTO estimates that up to 105 submissions per year may 
be mailed to the USPTO at an average first-class postage cost of 49 
cents, for a total postage cost of $51 per year. In the case of the 
oversized CD submissions, the USPTO estimates that the average postage 
cost for these submissions will be 95 cents, to cover the costs of 
mailing the CD, the application transmittal form,

[[Page 76166]]

and the cover letter. The USPTO estimates that 3 oversized CD 
submissions will be received per year, for a total postage cost of $3 
per year. The total postage cost for this collection is $8,001,156 per 
year.
    There are recordkeeping costs associated with the oversized CD 
submissions and the electronic filing of new utility and provisional 
applications. The USPTO advises applicants who submit oversized new 
utility and provisional application requests on CD to retain a back-up 
copy of the CD and a printed copy of the application transmittal form 
for their records. The USPTO estimates that it will take an additional 
5 minutes for the applicant to produce this back-up CD copy and 2 
minutes to print the copy of the application transmittal form, for a 
total of 7 minutes (0.12 hours) for each oversized submission. The 
USPTO estimates that approximately 3 electronic submissions per year 
will be oversized, for a total of 0.36 hours per year for retaining the 
back-up CD and printed application transmittal form. The USPTO believes 
that these back-up copies will be prepared by paraprofessionals with an 
estimated hourly rate of $30 per hour, for a total recordkeeping cost 
of $11 per year.
    In addition, the USPTO also strongly advises applicants who file 
their new utility and provisional applications electronically to retain 
a copy of the file submitted to the USPTO as evidence of authenticity, 
in addition to keeping the acknowledgment receipt as clear evidence 
that on the date noted the file was received by the USPTO. The USPTO 
estimates that it will take 5 seconds (0.001 hours) to print and retain 
a copy of the new utility and provisional submissions and that 
approximately 4,138 (3,498 new utility and 640 provisional 
applications) submissions per year will use this option, for a total of 
4 hours per year. Using the paraprofessional rate of $30 per hour, the 
USPTO estimates that the recordkeeping cost for retaining this copy 
will be $120 per year. The total recordkeeping cost for this collection 
is $131 per year.
    There is also annual nonhour cost burden in the way of filing fees 
associated with this collection. The basic filing fees for the utility, 
plant, design, and provisional applications are determined by which 
filing status (other than small entity or small entity) the applicant 
has selected. The filing fees for the electronically-filed new utility 
and provisional applications are the same as those for the paper 
applications. The small entity status does not apply to the petition to 
accept a delayed priority claim. There are no filing fees associated 
with the oversized CD submissions.
    The total estimated filing costs for this collection of 
$254,214,490 are calculated in the accompanying chart.

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                                                                      Responses      Filing    Total annual cost
                                Item                                     (yr)         fees            (yr)
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                                                                             (a)          (b)          (a) x (b)
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Utility Application (including Reissues and all Continuing               273,137      $740.00    $202,121,380.00
 Applications)--Other Entity.......................................
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Utility Applications (including Reissues and all Continuing               68,285       370.00      25,265,450.00
 Applications)--Small Entity.......................................
Plant Applications (including Reissues and all Continuing                    768       740.00         568,320.00
 Applications)--Other Entity.......................................
Plant Applications (including Reissues and Continuing                        192       370.00             71,040
 Applications)--Small Entity.......................................
Design Applications (including Reissues and all Continuing                15,654       740.00      11,583,960.00
 Applications)--Other Entity.......................................
Design Applications (including Reissues and all Continuing                 3,914       370.00       1,448,180.00
 Applications)--Small Entity.......................................
Provisional Applications--Other Entity.............................       72,343       160.00      11,574,880.00
Provisional Applications--Small Entity.............................       18,086        80.00       1,446,880.00
Petition To Accept Delayed Priority Claim..........................          105     1,280.00         134,400.00
CD-ROM Submissions of Oversized New Utility and Provisional                    3          N/A               0.00
 Applications That Cannot Be Submitted Electronically via EFS:.....
    [sbull] Application Transmittal Form...........................
    [sbull] Cover Letter...........................................
                                                                    --------------
        Totals.....................................................      452,487  ...........     254,214,490.00

    The USPTO estimates that the total non-hour respondent cost burden 
for this collection, in the form of capital start-up, operation, 
recordkeeping, and postage costs, and filing fees, is $262,216,319 per 
year.

IV. Request for Comments

    Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the agency, including whether the information shall have practical 
utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden 
(including hours and cost) of the proposed collection of information; 
(c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the 
collection of information on respondents, e.g., the use of automated 
collection techniques or other forms of information technology.
    Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized or 
included in the request for OMB approval of this information 
collection; they also will become a matter of public record.

    Dated: December 4, 2002.
Susan K. Brown,
Records Officer, USPTO, Office of Data Architecture and Services, Data 
Administration Division.
[FR Doc. 02-31193 Filed 12-10-02; 8:45 am]
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