[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 31 (Tuesday, February 17, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7454-7455]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-3346]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Patent and Trademark Office


United States Patent Applicant Survey

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 proposed and/or continuing information 
collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Pub. 
L. 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)).

DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before April 19, 2004.

ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments to Susan K. Brown, Records 
Officer, Office of the Chief Information Officer, Office of Data 
Architecture and Services, Data Administration Division, 703-308-7400, 
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313, 
Attn: CPK 3 Suite 310; by e-mail at [email protected]; or by 
facsimile at 703-308-7407.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information 
should be directed to the attention of Barrett J. Riordan, Senior 
Economist, Office of Corporate Planning, United States Patent and 
Trademark Office (USPTO), P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450; by 
telephone 703-305-8475; or by e-mail at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

I. Abstract

    For several years the USPTO has supported an ongoing econometric 
and statistical forecasting program. While this has improved workload 
forecasting, it still falls short of the type of accuracy required by 
the USPTO. The Senate Appropriations Report 106-404 (September 8, 2000) 
directed the USPTO to ``develop a workload forecast with advice from a 
representative sample of industry and the inventor community.'' A 
patent application survey will allow the USPTO to accurately estimate 
future patent application activity on a continuing basis.
    Consequently, the USPTO has developed the United States Patent 
Applicant Survey as part of a continuing effort to obtain information 
on customer filing intentions that will assist the USPTO in predicting 
future growth rates in patent applications. The purpose of this survey 
is to determine the number of applications that the USPTO can expect to 
receive over the next four years from patent-generating entities, 
ranging from large domestic corporations to independent inventors.
    Previously, the rate of patent application submissions to the USPTO 
steadily increased with the expanding technological innovations over 
the past decade. However, in recent years there has been a decrease in 
the growth rate of patent applications that are being submitted to the 
USPTO. Due to these circumstances, it is necessary for the USPTO to 
conduct this Patent Applicant Survey to obtain data that will allow the 
agency to anticipate demand and estimate future revenue flow more 
reliably; to identify input and output triggers and allocate resources 
to meet and understand customer needs; and to re-assess output and 
capacity goals and re-align organization quality control measures with 
workload demand by division.
    The Patent Applicant Survey is a mail survey, although respondents 
also have the option to complete the survey electronically. A survey 
packet, containing the survey, a cover letter explaining the purpose of 
the survey and outlining instructions for completing the survey 
electronically, and a postage-paid, pre-addressed return envelope, will 
be mailed to all survey groups. The USPTO plans to survey four groups 
of respondents: large

[[Page 7455]]

domestic corporations (including those with 500+ employees), small and 
medium-size businesses, universities and other not-for-profit 
organizations, and independent inventors. The USPTO does not plan to 
survey foreign entities and will rely on the European Patent Office 
(EPO) and the Japanese Patent Office (JPO) to provide forecasts of 
filings by foreign entities. Due to variances in filing and the varying 
needs of the different patent-filing populations, the USPTO has 
developed three versions of the survey: one for the large domestic 
corporations and small entities, one for universities, and another for 
independent inventors.
    Since the initial survey, administered in late 2002, the USPTO 
gathered additional information, which was used to redesign the survey 
so that it eliminates difficulties discovered in the previous survey 
and coordinates more easily with parallel surveys conducted 
concurrently by the European and Japanese Patent Offices. The USPTO 
plans to expand the survey to additional groups in 2004 so that the 
population of patent-generating entities is fully represented.
    The initial survey was reviewed and approved by OMB under OMB 
Control Number 0651-0038 Customer Input, Patent and Trademark Customer 
Surveys, the USPTO's generic customer survey clearance. However, due to 
the USPTO's stated purpose of using this survey to predict workload and 
revenue flow, the fact that this survey is part of a continuing pilot 
project, and since the survey methodology is fully developed, the USPTO 
is submitting this survey separately to OMB for review and approval, 
instead of submitting it under the generic clearance.
    These surveys do not have USPTO form numbers associated with them 
and once they are approved, they will carry the OMB Control Number and 
the expiration date.

II. Method of Collection

    By mail or electronically over the Internet when respondents elect 
the on-line option to complete the survey.

III. Data

    OMB Number: 0651-00XX.
    Form Number(s): N/A.
    Type of Review: New information collection.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households; business or other for 
profit; not-for-profit institutions; Federal Government; and state, 
local or tribal Government.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 450 total responses per year. Of 
this total, 225 surveys of large domestic corporations (500+ 
employees), 100 surveys of small and medium size businesses, 25 surveys 
of universities, and 100 surveys of independent inventors will be 
conducted per year. The USPTO expects that 150 surveys will be 
completed using the on-line option.
    Estimated Time Per Response: The USPTO estimates that it will take 
approximately 30 minutes (0.5 hours) each to complete the mail and 
electronic surveys of large domestic corporations (500+ employees), 
small and medium size businesses, and universities; and approximately 7 
minutes (0.12 hours) to complete the mail and electronic surveys of 
independent inventors.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Burden Hours: 189 hours per year.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Cost Burden: $44,415. The USPTO 
estimates that 75% of the respondents completing these surveys will be 
associate attorneys and that the remaining 25% of respondents will be 
paraprofessionals/paralegals. Using a typical professional hourly rate 
of $286 for associate attorneys in private firms and the 
paraprofessional/paralegal rate of $81 for paralegals/legal assistants 
in private firms, the USPTO believes that the average hourly rate for 
those completing these surveys will be $235 per hour. Therefore, the 
USPTO estimates that the salary costs for the respondents completing 
these surveys will be $44,415 per year.

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                                                                  Estimated time     Estimated       Estimated
                              Item                                 for response       annual       annual burden
                                                                     (minutes)       responses         hours
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Large Domestic Corporations.....................................              30             150              75
Large Domestic Corporations (electronic surveys)................              30              75              38
Small and Medium Size Businesses................................              30              67              34
Small and Medium Size Businesses (electronic surveys)...........              30              33              17
Universities and Non-Profits....................................              30              16               8
Universities and Non-Profits (electronic surveys)...............              30               9               5
Independent Inventors...........................................               7              67               8
Independent Inventors (electronic surveys)......................               7              33               4
                                                                 -----------------
      Total.....................................................  ..............             450             189
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    Estimated Total Annual Non-Hour Respondent Cost Burden: $0. There 
are no capital start-up, maintenance, or recordkeeping costs or filing 
fees associated with this information collection. The USPTO provides 
postage-paid, pre-addressed return envelopes for the completed mail 
surveys so there are no postage costs associated with this information 
collection.

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 will also become a matter of public record.

    Dated: February 10, 2004.
Susan K. Brown,
Records Officer, United States Patent and Trademark Office, Office of 
the Chief Information Officer, Office of Data Architecture and 
Services, Data Administration Division.
[FR Doc. 04-3346 Filed 2-13-04; 8:45 am]
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