[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 18 (Monday, January 28, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4848-4850]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-1389]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Patent and Trademark Office


Recording Assignments

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 March 28, 2008.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
    E-mail: [email protected]. Include ``0651-0027 comment'' in 
the subject line of the message.
    Fax: 571-273-0112, marked to the attention of Susan Fawcett.
    Mail: Susan K. Fawcett, Records Officer, Office of the Chief 
Information Officer, Customer Information Services Group, Public 
Information Services 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 Joyce R. Johnson, Manager, Assignment Division, 
Mail Stop 1450, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, P.O. Box 1450, 
Alexandria, VA 22313-1450; by telephone at 703-308-9706; or by e-mail 
at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Abstract

    This collection of information is required by 35 U.S.C. 261 and 262 
for patents and 15 U.S.C. 1057 and 1060 of the Trademark Act of 1946 
for trademarks. These statutes authorize the United States Patent and 
Trademark Office (USPTO) to record patent and trademark assignment 
documents, including transfers of properties (i.e. patents and 
trademarks), liens, licenses, assignments of interest, security 
interests, mergers, and explanations of transactions or other documents 
that record the transfer of ownership of a particular patent or 
trademark property from one party to another. Assignments are recorded 
for applications, patents, and trademark registrations.
    The USPTO administers these statutes through 37 CFR 2.146, 2.171, 
and 37 CFR Part 3. These rules permit the public, corporations, other 
federal agencies, and Government-owned or Government-controlled 
corporations to submit patent and trademark assignment documents and 
other documents related to title transfers to the USPTO to be recorded. 
In accordance with 37 CFR 3.54, the recording of an assignment document 
by the USPTO is an administrative action and not a determination of the 
validity of the document or of the effect that the document has on the 
title to an application, patent, or trademark.
    Once the assignment documents are recorded, they are available for 
public inspection. The only exceptions are those documents that are 
sealed under secrecy orders according to 37 CFR 3.58 or related to 
unpublished patent applications maintained in confidence under 35 
U.S.C. 122 and 37 CFR 1.14. The public uses these records to conduct 
ownership and chain-of-title searches. The public may view these 
records either at the USPTO Public Search Facilities or at the National 
Archives and Records Administration, depending on the date they were 
recorded. The public may also search patent and trademark assignment 
information online through the USPTO Web site.
    In order to file a request to record an assignment, the respondent 
must submit an appropriate cover sheet along with copies of the 
assignment documents to be recorded. The USPTO provides two paper forms 
for this purpose, the Patent Recordation Form Cover Sheet (PTO-1595) 
and the Trademark Recordation

[[Page 4849]]

Form Cover Sheet (PTO-1594), which capture all of the necessary data 
for accurately recording various assignment documents.
    Customers may also submit assignments online by using the 
Electronic Patent Assignment System (EPAS) and the Electronic Trademark 
Assignment System (ETAS), which are available through the USPTO Web 
site. These systems allow customers to fill out the required cover 
sheet information online using web-based forms and then attach the 
electronic assignment documents to be submitted for recordation.
    Previously, customers could also submit patent assignment 
recordation requests securely over the internet using special 
electronic filing software that was developed by the USPTO. 
Particularly large recordation requests that were prepared using the 
software could be copied onto a recordable compact disc (CD) and then 
submitted to the USPTO by mail. Since the USPTO has retired this 
electronic filing software in favor of the web-based filing system, the 
corresponding modes of submission are being deleted from this 
collection.

II. Method of Collection

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

III. Data

    OMB Number: 0651-0027.
    Form Number(s): PTO-1594 and PTO-1595.
    Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households; businesses or other 
for-profits; not-for-profit institutions; the Federal Government; and 
state, local or tribal governments.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 363,388 responses per year.
    Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that it will take 
the public approximately 30 minutes (0.5 hours) to prepare and submit a 
patent or trademark assignment recordation request.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Burden Hours: 181,695 hours per 
year.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Cost Burden: $35,793,915 per 
year. The USPTO expects that the information in this collection will be 
prepared by both attorneys and paralegals. The estimated rate of $197 
per hour used in this collection is an average of the paraprofessional 
rate of $90 per hour and the professional rate of $304 per hour for 
associate attorneys in private firms. Using the average rate of $197 
per hour, the USPTO estimates that the respondent cost burden for 
submitting the information in this collection will be $35,793,915 per 
year.

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                                                                  Estimated time     Estimated       Estimated
                 Item                         Form number          for response       annual      annual  burden
                                                                     (minutes)       responses         hours
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Patent Recordation Form Cover Sheet..  PTO-1595.................              30         130,387          65,194
Trademark Recordation Form Cover       PTO-1594.................              30           4,584           2,292
 Sheet.
Electronic Patent Assignment System    PTO-1595.................              30         203,969         101,985
 (EPAS).
Electronic Trademark Assignment        PTO-1594.................              30          24,448          12,224
 System (ETAS).
                                      --------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals...........................  .........................  ..............         363,388         181,695
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    Estimated Total Annual Non-hour Respondent Cost Burden: $27,165,603 
per year. There are no maintenance costs associated with this 
information collection. However, this collection does have annual (non-
hour) costs in the form of filing fees, recordkeeping costs, and 
postage costs.
    This collection has filing fees associated with submitting patent 
and trademark assignment documents to be recorded. The filing fees for 
recording patent and trademark assignments are the same for both paper 
and electronic submissions. However, the filing cost for recording 
patent or trademark assignments varies according to the number of 
properties involved in each submission.
    The filing fee for submitting a patent assignment as indicated by 
37 CFR 1.21(h) is $40 for recording each property in a document, while 
the filing fee for submitting a trademark assignment as indicated by 37 
CFR 2.6(b)(6) is $40 for recording the first property in a document and 
$25 for each additional property in the same document. The USPTO 
estimates that the average fee for a patent assignment recordation 
request is approximately $65 and that the average fee for a trademark 
assignment recordation request is approximately $184. Therefore, this 
collection has an estimated total of $27,075,028 in filing fees per 
year.

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                                                                  Estimated
                Item                        Form number            annual        Average fee    Estimated annual
                                                                  responses        amount         filing costs
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Patent Recordation Form Cover Sheet.  PTO-1595...............         130,387          $65.00      $8,475,155.00
Trademark Recordation Form Cover      PTO-1594...............           4,584          184.00         843,456.00
 Sheet.
Electronic Patent Assignment System   PTO-1595...............         203,969           65.00      13,257,985.00
 (EPAS).
Electronic Trademark Assignment       PTO-1594...............          24,448          184.00       4,498,432.00
 System (ETAS).
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    Totals..........................  .......................         363,388  ..............      27,075,028.00
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    There are also recordkeeping costs associated with submitting 
assignment documents online using EPAS and ETAS. The USPTO recommends 
that customers print and retain a copy of the acknowledgment receipt 
that appears on the screen after a successful submission. Customers 
will also receive an electronic copy of this receipt. The USPTO 
estimates that it will take 5 seconds (0.001 hours) to print a copy of 
the acknowledgment receipt and that approximately 228,417 submissions 
per year will be completed via EPAS and ETAS, for a total of 
approximately 228 hours per year for printing this receipt. The USPTO 
expects that these receipts will be printed by paraprofessionals at an 
estimated rate of $90 per hour, for a recordkeeping cost of $20,520 per 
year.

[[Page 4850]]

    Customers may incur postage costs when submitting a patent or 
trademark assignment request to the USPTO by mail. The USPTO expects 
that some assignment requests will be submitted by fax but that 
approximately 87,569 of the 134,971 paper assignment requests per year 
will be submitted by mail. The USPTO estimates that the average first-
class postage cost for a mailed Patent or Trademark Recordation Form 
Cover Sheet submission is 80 cents, resulting in a total postage cost 
for this collection of $70,055 per year.
    The total non-hour respondent cost burden for this collection in 
the form of filing fees, recordkeeping costs, and postage costs is 
estimated to be $27,165,603 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: January 22, 2008.
Susan K. Fawcett,
Records Officer, USPTO, Office of the Chief Information Officer, 
Customer Information Services Group, Public Information Services 
Division.
[FR Doc. E8-1389 Filed 1-25-08; 8:45 am]
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