[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 169 (Thursday, September 1, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Page 52077]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-17408]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Patent and Trademark Office


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has submitted 
to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for clearance the 
following proposal for collection of information under the provisions 
of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35).
    Agency: United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
    Title: Representative and Address Provisions.
    Form Number(s): PTO/SB/80/81/82/83/84/122/123/124A/124B/125A/125B.
    Agency Approval Number: 0651-0035.
    Type of Request: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Burden: 23,668 hours annually.
    Number of Respondents: 370,766 responses per year.
    Avg. Hours Per Response: The USPTO estimates that it will take the 
public approximately 3 to 12 minutes (0.05 to 0.2 hours) to gather the 
necessary information, prepare the form, and submit a completed request 
involving a power of attorney, correspondence address, or Customer 
Number. The USPTO estimates that it will take the public approximately 
1 hour to prepare and submit a petition related to power of attorney 
and 1 hour and 30 minutes (1.5 hours) to submit a Customer Number 
Upload Spreadsheet, including the time to prepare the spreadsheet file 
on diskette or CD and to produce a signed cover letter.
    Needs and Uses: Under 35 U.S.C. 2 and 37 CFR 1.31-1.36 and 1.363, 
this information collection is used by the public to grant or revoke 
power of attorney in a patent application, to withdraw as attorney or 
agent of record, to authorize a practitioner to act in a representative 
capacity, to designate or change the correspondence address or fee 
address for one or more applications or patents, to request a Customer 
Number, and to designate or change the correspondence address, fee 
address, or list of practitioners associated with a Customer Number. 
The Customer Number practice permits authorized individuals to change 
the correspondence address, fee address, or representatives of record 
for a number of patents or applications with one change request instead 
of filing separate requests for each patent or application. The USPTO 
uses the information in this collection to determine who is authorized 
to take action in an application or patent on behalf of the applicant 
or assignee and where to send correspondence regarding an application 
or patent. This information collection currently contains eight paper 
forms, and customers may also submit information using the Customer 
Number Upload Spreadsheet format. The USPTO is adding the Authorization 
to Act in a Representative Capacity (PTO/SB/84), two petitions, and 
electronic power of attorney submissions to this collection.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households, businesses or other 
for-profits, not-for-profit institutions, farms, the Federal 
Government, and state, local or tribal governments.
    Frequency: On occasion.
    Respondent's Obligation: Required to obtain or retain benefits.
    OMB Desk Officer: David Rostker, (202) 395-3897.
    Copies of the above information collection proposal can be obtained 
by any of the following methods:
     E-mail: [email protected]. Include ``0651-0035 copy 
request'' in the subject line of the message.
     Fax: 571-273-0112, 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.
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be sent on or before October 3, 2005 to David 
Rostker, OMB Desk Officer, Room 10202, New Executive Office Building, 
725 17th Street NW., Washington, DC 20503.

    Dated: August 26, 2005.
Susan K. Brown,
Records Officer, USPTO, Office of the Chief Information Officer, Office 
of Data Architecture and Services, Data Administration Division.
[FR Doc. 05-17408 Filed 8-31-05; 8:45 am]
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