[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 226 (Friday, November 21, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Page 70625]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-27692]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Patent and Trademark Office


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will submit 
to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for clearance of the 
following proposal for collection of information under the provisions 
of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35).
AGENCY: United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
    Title: Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) Program.
    Form Number(s): PTO/SB/10, PTO/SB/12, PTO/SB/20AU, PTO/SB/20CA, 
PTO/SB/20DK, PTO/SB/20EP, PTO/SB/20JP, PTO/SB/20KR, and PTO/SB/20UK.
    Agency Approval Number: 0651-0058.
    Type of Request: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Burden: 2,625 hours annually.
    Number of Respondents: 1,350 responses per year.
    Average Hours per Response: The USPTO estimates that it will take 
the public approximately 1.5 to 2 hours to submit the information in 
this collection, including the time to gather the necessary 
information, prepare the appropriate form, and submit the completed 
request.
    Needs and Uses: The Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot program 
was originally established between the United States Patent and 
Trademark Office (USPTO) and the Japan Patent Office (JPO) on July 3, 
2006. The PPH program allows applicants whose claims are determined to 
be patentable in the office of first filing to have the corresponding 
application that is filed in the office of second filing be advanced 
out of turn for examination. At the same time, the PPH program allows 
the office of second filing to exploit the search and examination 
results of the office of first filing, which increases examination 
efficiency and improves patent quality. Additional PPH pilot programs 
have recently been established between the USPTO and the United Kingdom 
Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO), the Canadian Intellectual 
Property Office (CIPO), the Danish Patent and Trademark Office (DKPTO), 
the European Patent Office (EPO), the Korean Intellectual Property 
Office (KIPO), and the Intellectual Property Office of Australia 
(IPAU).
    The USPTO and the JPO also participate in a work-sharing pilot 
project called the ``New Route.'' Under the New Route framework, a 
filing in one member office of this arrangement would be deemed a 
filing in all member offices. The first office and applicant would be 
given a 30-month processing time frame in which to make available a 
first office action and any necessary translations to the second 
office(s), and the second office(s) would exploit the search and 
examination results in conducting their own examination.
    This information collection previously included two forms, Request 
for Participation in the New Route Pilot Program Between the JPO and 
the USPTO (PTO/SB/10) and Request for Participation in the Patent 
Prosecution Highway (PPH) Pilot Program Between the (1) JPO or (2) 
UKIPO and the USPTO (PTO/SB/20), which may be used by applicants to 
request participation in the programs and to ensure that they meet the 
program requirements. Since the PPH program with the JPO has been fully 
implemented, Form PTO/SB/20 has been revised as Form PTO/SB/20JP for 
use with the JPO and a separate Form PTO/SB/20UK has been created for 
the ongoing pilot program with the UKIPO. Similar forms have been 
created for the PPH pilot programs with the CIPO, the DKPTO, the EPO, 
the KIPO, and the IPAU. These additional PPH pilot program forms are 
being added to this collection.
    The USPTO is undertaking another worksharing program with the EPO 
and the JPO called the ``Triway'' program. Under the Triway framework, 
each Office will conduct searches on corresponding applications filed 
under the Paris Convention in each of the Offices in a sufficiently 
early time period. The search results will then be shared among the 
Offices in order to reduce the search and examination workload. To 
support this program, the USPTO is adding the Request for Participation 
in Triway Pilot Program Among the USPTO, the EPO and the JPO (PTO/SB/
12) to this collection.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households, businesses or other 
for-profits, and not-for-profit institutions.
    Frequency: On occasion.
    Respondent's Obligation: Required to obtain or retain benefits.
    OMB Desk Officer: Nicholas A. Fraser, e-mail: [email protected].
    Once submitted, the request will be publicly available in 
electronic format through the Information Collection Review page at 
http://www.reginfo.gov.
    Paper copies can be obtained by:
     E-mail: [email protected]. Include ``0651-0058 PPH 
Program copy request'' in the subject line of the message.
     Fax: 571-273-0112, marked to the attention of Susan K. 
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.
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be sent on or before December 22, 2008 to Nicholas A. 
Fraser, OMB Desk Officer, via e-mail at [email protected], or by fax to 202-395-5167, marked to the attention 
of Nicholas A. Fraser.

    Dated: November 14, 2008.
Susan K. Fawcett,
Records Officer, USPTO, Office of the Chief Information Officer, 
Customer Information Services Group, Public Information Services 
Division.
 [FR Doc. E8-27692 Filed 11-20-08; 8:45 am]
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