[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 122 (Tuesday, June 24, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35663-35665]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-14194]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Patent and Trademark Office
Representative and Address Provisions
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 August 25, 2008.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
E-mail: [email protected]. Include ``0651-0035
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, United States Patent and Trademark
Office, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450.
Federal Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information
should be directed to Robert A. Clarke, Director, Office of Patent
Legal Administration, United States Patent and Trademark Office, P.O.
Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450; by telephone at 571-272-7735; or
by e-mail to [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Abstract
Under 35 U.S.C. 2 and 37 CFR 1.31-1.36, a patent applicant or
assignee of record may grant power of attorney to a person who is
registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark
Office (USPTO) to act for them in a patent or application. A power of
attorney may also be revoked, and a registered practitioner may also
withdraw as attorney or agent of record under 37 CFR 1.36. The rules of
practice (37 CFR 1.33) also provide for the applicant, assignee, or
practitioner of record to supply a correspondence address and daytime
telephone number for receiving notices, official letters, and other
communications from the USPTO. Maintaining a correct and updated
correspondence address is necessary so that official correspondence
from the USPTO related to a patent or application will be properly
received by the applicant, assignee, or practitioner.
The USPTO's Customer Number practice permits applicants, assignees,
and practitioners of record to change the correspondence 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. Customers may request a Customer Number from the USPTO
and associate this Customer Number with a correspondence address or a
list of registered practitioners. Any changes to the address or
practitioner information associated with a Customer Number will be
applied to all patents and applications associated with that Customer
Number.
The Customer Number practice is optional, in that changes of
correspondence address or power of attorney may be filed separately for
each patent or application without using a Customer Number. However, a
Customer Number associated with the correspondence address for a patent
application is required in order to access private information about
the application using the Patent Application Information Retrieval
(PAIR) system, which is available through the USPTO Web site. The PAIR
system allows authorized individuals secure online access to
application status information, but only for patent applications that
are linked to a Customer Number. Customer Numbers may be associated
with U.S. patent applications as well as international Patent
Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications. The use of a Customer Number is
also required in order to grant power of attorney to more than ten
practitioners or to establish a separate ``fee address'' for
maintenance fee purposes that is different from the correspondence
address for a patent or application.
In addition to the forms offered by the USPTO to assist customers
with providing the information in this collection, customers may also
format requests using a Customer Number Upload Spreadsheet to designate
or change the correspondence address or fee address for a list of
patents or applications by associating them with a Customer Number. The
Customer Number Upload Spreadsheet must be submitted to the USPTO on a
computer-readable diskette or compact disc (CD), accompanied by a
signed cover letter requesting entry of the address changes for the
listed patents and applications. The spreadsheet and cover letter must
be mailed to the USPTO and cannot be filed electronically. Customers
may download a Microsoft Excel template with instructions from the
USPTO Web site to assist them in preparing the spreadsheet in the
proper format. The Customer Number Upload Spreadsheet may not be used
to change the power of attorney for patents or applications.
This information collection includes the information necessary to
submit a request to grant or revoke power of attorney for a patent
application and for a registered practitioner to withdraw as attorney
or agent of record for a patent application. This collection also
includes the information necessary to request a Customer Number and
associate a correspondence address or list of practitioners with this
Customer Number, to change the correspondence address or practitioners
associated with a Customer Number, and to designate or change the
correspondence address or fee address for one or more patents or
applications by using a Customer Number.
The USPTO is revising a form in this collection, Request for
Withdrawal as Attorney or Agent and Change of Correspondence Address
(PTO/SB/83), to allow the practitioner requesting withdrawal to certify
that proper notice has been given to the client and that all papers and
property to which the client is entitled have been delivered. The
[[Page 35664]]
USPTO is also deleting two items from this collection. The Electronic
Power of Attorney Forms (EFS) that were previously included in this
collection are being deleted due to the retirement of the USPTO's
previous electronic filing system (EFS) software in favor of a new Web-
based online submission system (EFS-Web). Instead of having to install
and use the separate EFS software, forms and other documents may be
uploaded and submitted online directly through the USPTO Web site. In
addition, the Customer Upload Spreadsheet for PCT Applications is being
deleted from this collection because it is no longer in use. Applicants
must instead submit a Request to Update a PCT Application With a
Customer Number (PTO-2248) for each PCT application to be associated
with a Customer Number.
II. Method of Collection
By mail, facsimile, hand delivery, or electronically to the USPTO.
III. Data
OMB Number: 0651-0035.
Form Number(s): PTO/SB/80/81/82/83/84/122/123/124/125 and PTO-2248.
Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved collection.
Affected Public: Individuals or households; businesses or other
for-profits; and not-for-profit institutions.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 568,902 responses per year.
Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that it will take
the public approximately 3 minutes (0.05 hours) to 1.5 hours to submit
the information in this collection, including the time to gather the
necessary information, prepare the appropriate form or document, and
submit the completed request.
Estimated Total Annual Respondent Burden Hours: 33,357 hours per
year.
Estimated Total Annual Respondent Cost Burden: $3,040,630 per year.
The USPTO expects that Requests for Withdrawal as Attorney or Agent and
the petitions in this collection will be prepared by attorneys, while
the other items in this collection will be prepared by
paraprofessionals. Using the professional rate of $310 per hour for
associate attorneys in private firms, the USPTO estimates that the
respondent cost burden for submitting the withdrawal requests and the
petitions will be $54,250 per year. Using the paraprofessional rate of
$90 per hour, the USPTO estimates that the respondent cost burden for
submitting the other items in this collection will be $2,986,380 per
year. The estimated total respondent cost burden for this collection is
$3,040,630 per year.
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Estimated Estimated
Item Estimated time for response annual annual burden
responses hours
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Power of Attorney to Prosecute 3 minutes................................ 3,500 175
Applications Before the USPTO (PTO/
SB/80).
Power of Attorney and Correspondence 3 minutes................................ 426,450 21,323
Address Indication Form (PTO/SB/81).
Revocation of Power of Attorney with 3 minutes................................ 1,100 55
New Power of Attorney and Change of
Correspondence Address (PTO/SB/82).
Request for Withdrawal as Attorney or 12 minutes............................... 750 150
Agent and Change of Correspondence
Address (PTO/SB/83).
Authorization to Act in a 3 minutes................................ 1,350 68
Representative Capacity (PTO/SB/84).
Petition Under 37 CFR 1.36(a) to 1 hour................................... 15 15
Revoke Power of Attorney by Fewer
than All the Applicants.
Petition to Waive 37 CFR 1.32(b)(4) 1 hour................................... 10 10
and Grant Power of Attorney by Fewer
than All the Applicants.
Change of Correspondence Address for 3 minutes................................ 121,727 6,086
Application or Patent (PTO/SB/122/
123).
Request for Customer Number Data 12 minutes............................... 2,000 400
Change (PTO/SB/124).
Request for Customer Number (PTO/SB/ 12 minutes............................... 8,500 1,700
125).
Customer Number Upload Spreadsheet... 1 hour and 30 minutes.................... 2,000 3,000
Request to Update a PCT Application 15 minutes............................... 1,500 375
with a Customer Number (PTO-2248).
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Total............................ ......................................... 568,902 33,357
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Estimated Total Annual Non-hour Respondent Cost Burden: $257,178.
There are no maintenance costs associated with this information
collection. However, this collection does have annual (non-hour) cost
burden in the form of filing fees, recordkeeping costs, capital start-
up costs, and postage costs.
The two petitions in this collection have associated filing fees.
The filing fee for both the Petition Under 37 CFR 1.36(a) to Revoke
Power of Attorney by Fewer than All the Applicants and the Petition to
Waive 37 CFR 1.32(b)(4) and Grant Power of Attorney by Fewer than All
the Applicants is currently $400 (37 CFR 1.17(f)). Using the $400 fee
for these petitions, the USPTO estimates that the total filing fees for
this collection would be $10,000 per year.
There are recordkeeping costs associated with submitting forms in
this collection electronically through EFS-Web, the USPTO's online
filing system. When submitting forms through EFS-Web, the USPTO
recommends that customers print and retain a copy of the acknowledgment
receipt as evidence of the successful submission. The USPTO estimates
that it will take 5 seconds (0.001 hours) to print a copy of the
acknowledgment receipt and that approximately 311,796 of the
submissions in this collection will be filed online, for a total of
approximately 312 hours per year. The USPTO expects that these receipts
will be printed by paraprofessionals at an estimated rate of $90 per
hour, for a total recordkeeping cost of $28,080 per year.
This collection has capital start-up costs associated with the
Customer Number Upload Spreadsheet, which must be submitted to the
USPTO on a diskette or CD. This process requires additional supplies,
including blank diskettes or recordable CD media and padded envelopes
for shipping. The USPTO estimates that the cost of these supplies will
be approximately $2 per submission, for a total capital start-up cost
of $4,000 per year.
The public may incur postage costs when submitting the information
in this collection to the USPTO by mail. The USPTO estimates that the
first-class postage cost for a mailed submission will be 83 cents for
all items except for the Customer Number Upload Spreadsheet and that
approximately 255,106 of the non-spreadsheet items
[[Page 35665]]
will be submitted to the USPTO by mail. Due to the additional materials
required for Customer Number Upload Spreadsheet submissions, including
the diskette or CD and cover letter, the USPTO estimates that the
average first-class postage cost for a spreadsheet submission will be
$1.68. The total estimated postage cost for this collection is $215,098
per year.
The total (non-hour) respondent cost burden for this collection in
the form of filing fees, recordkeeping costs, capital start-up costs,
and postage costs is estimated to be $257,178 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: June 17, 2008.
Susan K. Fawcett,
Records Officer, USPTO, Office of the Chief Information Officer,
Customer Information Services Group, Public Information Services
Division.
[FR Doc. E8-14194 Filed 6-23-08; 8:45 am]
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