[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 177 (Tuesday, September 14, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55415-55416]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-20684]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Patent and Trademark Office


Native American Tribal Insignia Database

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 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 November 15, 
2004.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
     E-mail: [email protected]. Include ``0651-0048 
comment'' in the subject line of the message.
     Fax: 703-308-7407, marked to the attention of Susan Brown.
     Mail: Susan K. Brown, Records Officer, Office of the Chief 
Information Officer, Office of Data Architecture and Services, Data 
Administration Division, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, P.O. Box 
1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information 
should be directed to Ari Leifman, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, 
2900 Crystal Drive, Arlington, VA 22202-3514; by telephone at 703-308-
8900; or by e-mail at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Abstract

    The Trademark Law Treaty Implementation Act (Pub. L. 105-330, 302, 
112 Stat. 3071 (1998)) required the United States Patent and Trademark 
Office (USPTO) to study issues surrounding the protection of the 
official insignia of federally- and state-recognized Native American 
tribes under trademark law. The USPTO conducted the study and presented 
a report to the Chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary of the 
Senate and to the Chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary of the 
House of Representatives on November 30, 1999. One of the 
recommendations made in the report was that the USPTO create, maintain, 
and update an accurate and comprehensive database containing the 
official insignia of all federally- and state-recognized Native 
American tribes. In accordance with this recommendation, the Senate 
Committee on Appropriations directed the USPTO to create this database.
    The database of official tribal insignias assists trademark 
attorneys in their examination of applications for trademark 
registration. Additionally, the database provides evidence of what a 
federally- or state-recognized Native American tribe considers to be 
its official insignia. The database serves as a reference for examining 
attorneys when determining the registrability of a mark that may be 
similar to the official insignia of a Native American tribe. The 
insignia database is also available to the public on the USPTO Web 
site.
    Tribes are not required to request that their official insignia be 
included in the database. The entry of an official insignia into the 
database does not confer any rights to the tribe that submitted the 
insignia, and entry is not the legal equivalent of registering the 
insignia as a trademark under 15 U.S.C. 1051 et seq. The inclusion of 
an official tribal insignia in the database does not create any legal 
presumption of validity or priority, does not carry any of the benefits 
of Federal trademark registration, and is not a determination as to 
whether a particular insignia would be refused registration as a

[[Page 55416]]

trademark pursuant to 15 U.S.C. 1051 et seq.
    Requests from federally-recognized tribes to enter an official 
insignia into the database must be submitted in writing and include: 
(1) A depiction of the insignia, including the name of the tribe and 
the address for correspondence; (2) a copy of the tribal resolution 
adopting the insignia in question as the official insignia of the 
tribe; and (3) a statement, signed by an official with authority to 
bind the tribe, confirming that the insignia included with the request 
is identical to the official insignia adopted by tribal resolution.
    Requests from state-recognized tribes must also be in writing and 
include each of the three items above submitted by federally-recognized 
tribes. Additionally, requests from state-recognized tribes must 
include either: (a) A document issued by a state official that 
evidences the state's determination that the entity is a Native 
American tribe; or (b) a citation to a state statute designating the 
entity as a Native American tribe. The USPTO enters insignia that have 
been properly submitted by federally-or state-recognized Native 
American tribes into the database and does not investigate whether the 
insignia is actually the official insignia of the tribe making the 
request.
    This collection includes the information needed by the USPTO to 
enter an official insignia for a federally-or state-recognized Native 
American tribe into a database of such insignia. No forms are 
associated with this collection.
    This collection was previously approved by the Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) in March 2002. In May 2003, OMB approved a change 
worksheet that reduced the burden estimates for this collection because 
the USPTO received fewer tribal insignia filings than expected. Postage 
costs were also added to the collection. In September 2003, OMB 
approved another change worksheet that made a minor reduction in the 
number of responses for this collection due to a low number of filings, 
though the estimated total burden hours were not reduced.

II. Method of Collection

    By mail or facsimile to the USPTO.

III. Data

    OMB Number: 0651-0048.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.
    Affected Public: Tribal governments.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 15 responses per year.
    Estimated Time Per Response: The USPTO estimates that a federally-
recognized Native American tribe will require an average of 10 minutes 
(0.17 hours) to complete a request to record an official insignia and 
that a state-recognized Native American tribe will require an average 
of 12 minutes (0.20 hours) to complete a request to record an official 
insignia, including time to gather the necessary information, prepare 
the appropriate documents, and submit the completed request.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Burden Hours: 3 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Cost Burden: $144 per year. The 
USPTO expects that the information in this collection will be prepared 
by both paraprofessionals and clerical staff. The estimated rate of $48 
per hour used in this submission is an average of the paraprofessional 
rate of $81 per hour and the clerical rate of $15 per hour. Using this 
rate of $48 per hour, the USPTO estimates that the respondent cost 
burden for submitting the information in this collection will be $144 
per year.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                     Estimated
                                                                     time for        Estimated       Estimated
                              Item                                   response         annual       annual burden
                                                                     (minutes)       responses         hours
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Request to Record an Official Insignia of a Federally-Recognized              10              10               2
 Tribe..........................................................
Request to Record an Official Insignia of a State-Recognized                  12               5               1
 Tribe..........................................................
                                                                 -----------------
    Totals......................................................  ..............              15               3
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    Estimated Total Annual Non-hour Respondent Cost Burden: $7 per 
year. There are no capital start-up, maintenance, or recordkeeping 
costs associated with this information collection. There are also no 
filing fees for submitting a tribal insignia for recording. However, 
this collection does have annual (non-hour) costs in the form of 
postage costs.
    Customers may incur postage costs when submitting the information 
in this collection to the USPTO by mail. The USPTO estimates that the 
average first-class postage cost for a submission mailed through the 
U.S. Postal Service will be 49 cents and that up to 15 submissions will 
be mailed to the USPTO per year. The total estimated postage cost for 
this collection is approximately $7 per year.
    The total non-hour respondent cost burden for this collection in 
the form of postage costs is $7 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: September 8, 2004.
Susan K. Brown,
Records Officer, USPTO, Office of the Chief Information Officer, Office 
of Data Architecture and Services Data Administration Division.
[FR Doc. 04-20684 Filed 9-13-04; 8:45 am]
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