[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 190 (Monday, October 3, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57567-57569]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-19683]



[[Page 57567]]

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Patent and Trademark Office


Patent and Trademark Financial Transactions (Formerly Payment of 
Patent and Trademark Office Fees by Credit Card)

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 December 2, 
2005.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
     E-mail: [email protected]. Include ``0651-0043 
comment'' 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information 
should be directed to Tamara McClure, Office of Finance, U.S. Patent 
and Trademark Office, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450; by 
telephone at 571-272-6345; or by e-mail to [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

I. Abstract

    Under 35 U.S.C. 41 and 15 U.S.C. 1113, the USPTO charges fees for 
processing and other services related to patents, trademarks, and 
information products. The provisions of 35 U.S.C. 41 and 15 U.S.C. 1113 
are implemented in 37 CFR 1.16-1.28, 2.6-2.7, and 2.206-2.209.
    Under 37 CFR 1.23(b) and 2.207(b), customers may use a credit card 
to pay patent or trademark fees or to order information products from 
the USPTO. Payments of fees made by credit card must specify the amount 
to be charged and other information that is necessary to process the 
charge, such as a billing address (and an authorized signature when 
submitting a paper Credit Card Payment Form). The USPTO will not accept 
a general authorization to charge fees to a credit card. Customers 
submitting fee payments must also provide information concerning the 
purpose of the fee so that the USPTO is able to (1) apply the fee to 
the particular application, patent, trademark registration, or other 
proceeding, service, or product; and (2) determine whether the person 
has submitted the appropriate fee(s) required by law or regulation.
    This information collection includes the Credit Card Payment Form 
(PTO-2038), which provides the public with a convenient way to submit a 
credit card payment for fees related to a patent, trademark, or 
information product. Customers may also submit credit card payments via 
the Electronic Credit Card Payment Form (PTO-2231) when using online 
systems provided by the USPTO for paying fees related to patents, 
trademarks, or information products. These systems are accessible 
through the USPTO web site at http://www.uspto.gov. At the top of the 
site, click on the ``eBusiness'' link to access the online systems. For 
online credit card payments, customers must use the Electronic Credit 
Card Payment Form provided on the USPTO web site.
    Under 37 CFR 1.25 and 2.208, customers may establish deposit 
accounts at the USPTO for paying patent and trademark fees or 
purchasing information products. Deposit accounts eliminate the need to 
submit a check, credit card information, or other form of payment for 
each transaction with the USPTO. Additionally, in the event that a fee 
amount due is miscalculated, customers may authorize the USPTO to 
charge any remaining balance to the deposit account and therefore avoid 
the potential consequences of underpayment. Customers may establish a 
deposit account by completing a Deposit Account Application Form (PTO-
2232) and sending the required information, initial deposit, and 
service fee to the USPTO.
    As customers use their deposit accounts to make payments, they may 
deposit funds to replenish their accounts by mailing a check to the 
USPTO or making a deposit online via an electronic funds transfer (EFT) 
using the Electronic Deposit Account Replenishment Form (PTO-2233) 
available at the USPTO web site. No official form is provided for 
mailed replenishments. Customers may simply send their checks to the 
USPTO with instructions specifying their deposit account number. 
Customers may also close their deposit accounts by submitting a written 
request. The remaining balance in the deposit account will be refunded 
after a six-week waiting period with no account activity to ensure that 
all outstanding charges have been applied before the account is closed.
    In addition to credit cards and deposit accounts, customers may 
also use EFT to make online fee payments. In order to make payments to 
the USPTO via EFT, customers must first establish a user profile with 
their banking information. Once their profile is created, customers may 
use their User ID and password to perform EFT transactions. To set up a 
user profile, customers must complete and submit the EFT User Profile 
Form (PTO-2236) through the USPTO web site.
    Under 37 CFR 1.26 and 2.209, the USPTO may refund fees paid by 
mistake or in excess of the required amount. For refund amounts of $25 
or less, customers must submit a written request to the Refund Branch 
of the USPTO Office of Finance. No official form is provided for these 
refund requests.
    The Deposit Account Application Form (PTO-2232), Deposit Account 
Replenishments, Electronic Deposit Account Replenishment Form (PTO-
2233), Deposit Account Closure Request Form (PTO-2234), EFT User 
Profile Form (PTO-2236), and Refund Requests are being added to this 
collection. The USPTO does not provide an official form for paper 
Deposit Account Replenishments or Refund Requests.
    In order to protect confidentiality, the USPTO will not include the 
credit card information submitted using the paper Credit Card Payment 
Form (PTO-2038) or Electronic Credit Card Payment Form (PTO-2231) among 
the patent or trademark records open to public inspection. The USPTO 
does not require customers to use the paper Credit Card Payment Form 
when paying fees by credit card, but using this form for non-electronic 
payments is strongly encouraged. If a customer supplies credit card 
information on a form or document (e.g., in correspondence related to a 
patent or trademark) other than a credit card payment form provided by 
the USPTO, the credit card information may become part of a patent or 
trademark file that is open to public inspection. If credit card 
information is submitted on a form or document other than a credit card 
payment form provided by the USPTO, the USPTO will not be liable if the 
credit card information becomes public knowledge.

II. Method of Collection

    By mail, facsimile, hand delivery, or electronically over the 
Internet to the USPTO.

[[Page 57568]]

III. Data

    OMB Number: 0651-0043.
    Form Number(s): PTO-2038, PTO-2231, PTO-2232, PTO-2233, PTO-2234, 
PTO-2236.
    Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved 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.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 1,928,705 responses per year.
    Estimated Time Per Response: The USPTO estimates that it will take 
the public approximately 2 minutes (0.03 hours) to gather the necessary 
information, prepare, and submit the items in this collection related 
to credit card payments, deposit accounts, EFT user profiles, and 
refund requests.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Burden Hours: 57,862 hours per 
year.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Cost Burden: $2,488,066 per year. 
The USPTO expects that 75% of the submissions for this information 
collection will be prepared by fee administrators/coordinators and that 
25% of the submissions will be prepared by paraprofessionals. Using 
those proportions and the estimated rates of $30 per hour for fee 
administrators/coordinators and $81 per hour for paraprofessionals, the 
USPTO estimates that the average hourly rate for all respondents will 
be approximately $43 per hour. Using this estimated rate of $43 per 
hour, the USPTO estimates that the respondent cost burden for 
submitting the information in this collection will be approximately 
$2,488,066 per year.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                             Estimated time       Estimated         Estimated
                           Item                               for response         annual         annual burden
                                                                (minutes)         responses           hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Credit Card Payment Form (PTO-2038).......................                 2           863,389            25,902
Electronic Credit Card Payment Form (PTO-2231)............                 2         1,017,322            30,520
Deposit Account Application Form (PTO-2232)...............                 2               298                 9
Deposit Account Replenishment.............................                 2            20,837               625
Electronic Deposit Account Replenishment Form (PTO-2233)..                 2            17,664               530
Deposit Account Closure Request Form (PTO-2234)...........                 2               132                 4
EFT User Profile Form (PTO-2236)..........................                 2             2,850                86
Refund Request............................................                 2             6,213               186
                                                           -------------------
    Total.................................................  ................         1,928,705            57,862
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Estimated Total Annual Non-hour Respondent Cost Burden: $235,755. 
There are no capital start-up costs or maintenance costs associated 
with this information collection. However, this collection does have 
associated service fees for deposit accounts and returned payments, 
postage costs for mailing submissions to the USPTO, and recordkeeping 
costs related to electronic credit card payments and electronic deposit 
account replenishments.
    There are service fees for setting up a deposit account at the 
USPTO, for not maintaining the minimum balance required for the deposit 
account, and for returned payments. The service charge to establish a 
deposit account is $10, and the USPTO estimates that it processes 298 
Deposit Account Application Forms annually, for a total of $2,980 per 
year. There is also a $25 service charge for deposit accounts that are 
below the minimum balance ($1,000 minimum balance for an unrestricted 
deposit account or $300 minimum balance for a restricted deposit 
account) at the end of the month, and the USPTO estimates that it 
assesses a total of $100,000 in low balance service charges per year. 
There is a $50 service charge for processing a payment refused 
(including a check returned ``unpaid'') or charged back by a financial 
institution. The USPTO estimates that it assesses 456 of these returned 
payment charges annually, for a total of $22,800 per year. The total 
estimated service fees for this collection are $125,780 per year.
    Customers may incur postage costs when submitting the Credit Card 
Payment Form and other paper forms or requests to the USPTO by mail. 
Customers generally send the Credit Card Payment Form to the USPTO 
along with other documents related to the fee or service being paid for 
by credit card, but some customers may submit just the Credit Card 
Payment Form without additional supporting documents. The USPTO 
estimates that roughly 5 percent of the 863,389 paper Credit Card 
Payment Forms submitted annually may be mailed in by themselves, 
approximately 43,169 per year. The USPTO estimates that it will receive 
an additional 27,480 submissions per year that may be mailed, including 
Deposit Account Application Forms, Deposit Account Replenishments, 
Deposit Account Closure Requests, and Refund Requests, for a total of 
70,649 mailed submissions per year. The USPTO estimates that the first-
class postage cost for a mailed submission will be 37 cents, for a 
total postage cost of approximately $26,140 per year.
    Customers using the Electronic Credit Card Payment Form or the 
Electronic Deposit Account Replenishment Form may incur recordkeeping 
costs from printing a copy of the electronic receipt confirming their 
successful online transaction. The USPTO estimates that it will take 5 
seconds (0.001 hours) to print a copy of the confirmation receipt and 
that approximately 1,034,986 submissions per year will use the 
Electronic Credit Card Payment Form or the Electronic Deposit Account 
Replenishment Form, for a total recordkeeping burden of 1,035 hours per 
year. Using the paraprofessional rate of $81 per hour, the USPTO 
estimates that the recordkeeping cost associated with this collection 
will be approximately $83,835 per year.
    The total non-hour respondent cost burden for this collection in 
the form of service fees, postage costs, and recordkeeping costs is 
estimated to be $235,755 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

[[Page 57569]]

approval of this information collection; they also will become a matter 
of public record.

    Dated: September 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. 05-19683 Filed 9-30-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-16-P