[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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