[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 24 (Tuesday, February 6, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5426-5428]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-1871]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Patent and Trademark Office


Legal Processes

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 April 9, 2007.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
     E-mail: [email protected]. Include ``0651-0046 
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, Architecture, Engineering and Technical Services, 
Data Architecture and Services Division, U.S. Patent and Trademark 
Office, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450.
     Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information 
should be directed to Shirley Hassan, Office of General Law, U.S. 
Patent and Trademark Office, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450; 
by telephone at 571-272-3000; or by e-mail at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Abstract

    The purpose of this collection is to cover information requirements 
related to civil actions and claims involving current and former 
employees of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The 
rules for these legal processes may be found under 37 CFR Part 104, 
which outlines procedures for service of process, demands for employee 
testimony and production of documents in legal proceedings, reports of 
unauthorized testimony, employee indemnification, and filing claims 
against the USPTO under the Federal Tort Claims Act (28 U.S.C. 2672) 
and the corresponding Department of Justice regulations (28 CFR Part 
14). The public may also petition the USPTO Office of General Counsel 
under 37 CFR 104.3 to waive or suspend these rules in extraordinary 
cases.
    The procedures under 37 CFR Part 104 ensure that service of process 
intended for current and former employees of the USPTO is handled 
properly. The USPTO will only accept service of process for an employee 
acting in an official capacity. This

[[Page 5427]]

collection is necessary so that respondents or their representatives 
can serve a summons or complaint on the USPTO, demand employee 
testimony and documents related to a legal proceeding, or file a claim 
under the Federal Tort Claims Act. Respondents may also petition the 
USPTO to waive or suspend these rules for legal processes. This 
collection is also necessary so that current and former USPTO employees 
may properly forward service and demands to the Office of General 
Counsel, report unauthorized testimony, and request indemnification. 
The USPTO covers current employees as respondents under this 
information collection even though their responses do not require 
approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act. In those instances where 
both current and former employees may respond to the USPTO, the agency 
estimates that the number of respondents will be small.
    There are no forms provided by the USPTO for this collection. For 
filing claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act, the public may use 
Standard Form 95 ``Claim for Damage, Injury, or Death,'' which is 
provided by the Department of Justice and approved by the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) under OMB Control Number 1105-0008.

II. Method of Collection

    By mail or hand delivery to the USPTO.

III. Data

    OMB Number: 0651-0046.
    Form Number(s): None.
    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: 176 responses per year.
    Estimated Time Per Response: The USPTO estimates that it will take 
the public from 5 minutes (0.08 hours) to 1 hour to gather the 
necessary information, prepare the appropriate documents, and submit 
the information required for this collection.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Burden Hours: 31 hours per year.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Cost Burden: $9,189 per year. The 
USPTO expects that the information in this collection will be prepared 
by attorneys and former employees, except for the requests for employee 
indemnification, which generally come from professional and supervisory 
staff. Since many of the former employees affected by this collection 
are attorneys, the attorney rate will be used for former employees as 
well. Using the professional rate of $304 per hour for associate 
attorneys in private firms, the USPTO estimates that the respondent 
cost burden for attorneys and former employees submitting the 
information in this collection will be $9,120 per year. Using the 
estimate of $69 per hour for professional and supervisory staff, the 
USPTO expects that the respondent cost burden for submitting requests 
for employee indemnification will be $69 per year. Therefore, the 
respondent cost burden for this collection will be $9,189 per year.

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                                                                                     Estimated       Estimated
                     Item                          Estimated time for response        annual       annual burden
                                                                                     responses         hours
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Petition to Waive Rules.......................  30 minutes......................               7               4
Service of Process............................  5 minutes.......................             130              10
Forwarding Service............................  10 minutes......................               7               1
Employee Testimony and Production of Documents  30 minutes......................              18               9
 in Legal Proceedings.
Forwarding Demands............................  10 minutes......................               7               1
Report of Unauthorized Testimony..............  30 minutes......................               1               1
Report of Possible Indemnification Cases......  30 minutes......................               3               2
Employee Indemnification......................  30 minutes......................               1               1
Tort Claims...................................  1 hour..........................               2               2
    Total.....................................  ................................              76              31
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    Estimated Total Annual Non-hour Respondent Cost Burden: $2,013 per 
year. There are no capital start-up, maintenance, or recordkeeping 
costs associated with this information collection. However, this 
collection does have annual (non-hour) costs in the form of filing fees 
and postage costs.
    This collection has filing fees associated with the petition to 
waive or suspend the legal process rules under 37 CFR 104.3. The filing 
fee for this petition is $130, and the USPTO estimates that 
approximately seven petitions will be filed per year for a total filing 
cost of $910. There are no other filing fees associated with this 
information collection.
    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 for a mailed submission, other than a 
Service of Process, will be 52 cents and that up to 46 of these 
submissions will be mailed to the USPTO per year, for a postage cost of 
$24. The USPTO estimates that the average postage for a Service of 
Process will be $8.30 and that up to 130 of these submissions will be 
mailed to the USPTO per year, for a postage cost of $1,079. The total 
estimated postage cost for this collection is $1,103 per year.
    The total non-hour respondent cost burden for this collection in 
the form of filing fees and postage costs is $2,013 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.


[[Page 5428]]


    Dated: January 30, 2007.
Susan K. Brown,
Records Officer, USPTO, Office of the Chief Information Officer, 
Architecture, Engineering and Technical Services, Data Architecture and 
Services Division.
[FR Doc. E7-1871 Filed 2-5-07; 8:45 am]
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