[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 205 (Monday, October 26, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54952-54955]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-25652]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Patent and Trademark Office


Patent Cooperation Treaty

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 December 28, 
2009.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
     E-mail: [email protected]. Include A0651-0021 
comment@ 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, 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 Rafael Bacares, Office of PCT Legal 
Administration, United States Patent and Trademark Office, P.O. Box 
1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450; by telephone at 571-272-3276; or by e-
mail to [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Abstract

    This collection of information is required by the provisions of the 
Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), which became operational in June 1978 
and is administered by the International Bureau (IB) of the World 
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva, Switzerland. The 
provisions of the PCT have been implemented by the United States in 
Part IV of Title 35 of the U.S. Code and Subpart C of Title 37 of the 
Code of Federal Regulations. The purpose of the PCT is to provide a 
standardized filing format and procedure that allows an applicant to 
seek protection for an invention in several countries by filing one 
international application in one location, in one language, and paying 
one initial set of fees.
    The information in this collection is used by the public to submit 
a patent application under the PCT and by the United States Patent and 
Trademark Office (USPTO) to fulfill its obligation to process, search, 
and examine the application as directed by the treaty. The USPTO acts 
as the United States Receiving Office (RO/US) for international 
applications filed by residents and nationals of the United States. 
These applicants send most of their correspondence directly to the 
USPTO, but they may also file certain documents directly with the IB. 
The USPTO also serves as an International Searching Authority (ISA) and 
an International Preliminary Examining Authority (IPEA).
    The USPTO is updating this information collection to reflect the 
current practice and fee structure for PCT applications entering the 
national stage at the USPTO. A form is being added to this collection 
for the previously approved information requirement for the withdrawal 
of an international application. This form (PCT/IB/372) is developed 
and maintained by the WIPO.

II. Method of Collection

    By mail, hand delivery, or electronically to the USPTO. Electronic 
submissions are made through EFS-Web, the USPTO's online filing system 
for patent applications and related documents.

III. Data

    OMB Number: 0651-0021.
    Form Number(s): PCT/RO/101, PCT/RO/134, PCT/IB/372, PCT/IPEA/401, 
PTO-1382, PTO-1390, PTO/SB/61/PCT, PTO/SB/64/PCT.
    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: 363,809 responses per year.
    Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that it will take 
the public from 15 minutes (0.25 hours) to 8 hours to gather the 
necessary information, prepare the appropriate form or documents, and 
submit the information to the USPTO.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Burden Hours: 341,840 hours per 
year.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Cost Burden: $105,970,400 per 
year. The USPTO expects that the information in this collection will be 
prepared by attorneys. Using the professional rate of $310 per hour for 
attorneys in private firms, the USPTO estimates that the respondent 
cost burden for submitting the information in this collection will be 
$105,970,400 per year.

[[Page 54953]]



 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                                      Estimated
                                                                                         Estimated      annual
                      Item                            Estimated time for response          annual       burden
                                                                                         responses      hours
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Request and Fee Calculation Sheet (Annex and     1 hour...............................       53,527       53,527
 Notes) (PCT/RO/101).
Description/claims/drawings/abstracts..........  3 hours..............................       53,527      160,581
Application Data Sheet.........................  23 minutes...........................       39,592       15,045
Transmittal Letter to the United States          15 minutes...........................       48,174       12,044
 Receiving Office (RO/US) (PTO-1382).
Transmittal Letter to the United States          15 minutes...........................       58,794       14,699
 Designated/Elected Office (DO/EO/US)
 Concerning a Submission Under 35 U.S.C. 371
 (PTO-1390).
PCT/Model of Power of Attorney.................  15 minutes...........................        5,353        1,338
PCT/Model of General Power of Attorney.........  15 minutes...........................          536          134
Extensions of time.............................  15 minutes...........................       21,000        5,250
Priority documents.............................  15 minutes...........................           20            5
Indications Relating to a Deposited              15 minutes...........................           20            5
 Microorganism (PCT/RO/134).
Response to invitation to correct defects......  2 hours..............................       18,524       37,048
Request for rectification of obvious errors....  30 minutes...........................          589          295
Demand and Fee Calculation Sheet (Annex and      1 hour...............................        3,365        3,365
 Notes) (PCT/IPEA/401).
Amendments.....................................  1 hour...............................        3,365        3,365
Fee Authorization..............................  15 minutes...........................       48,174       12,044
Requests to transmit copies of international     15 minutes...........................          501          125
 application.
Withdrawal of international application (PCT/IB/ 15 minutes...........................        1,306          327
 372).
Translations...................................  2 hours..............................        1,655        3,310
Petition for Revival of an International         8 hours..............................           55          440
 Application for Patent Designating the U.S.
 Abandoned Unavoidably Under 37 CFR 1.137(a)
 (PTO/SB/61/PCT).
Petition for Revival of an International         1 hour...............................        1,027        1,027
 Application for Patent Designating the U.S.
 Abandoned Unintentionally Under 37 CFR
 1.137(b) (PTO/SB/64/PCT).
Petitions to the Commissioner for international  4 hours..............................          581        2,324
 applications.
Petitions to the Commissioner in national stage  4 hours..............................        3,287       13,148
 examination.
Acceptance of an unintentionally delayed claim   2 hours..............................          117          234
 for priority.
Request for the restoration of the right of      3 hours..............................          720        2,160
 priority (37 CFR 1.78).
                                                ----------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals.....................................  .....................................      363,809      341,840
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    Estimated Total Annual Non-hour Respondent Cost Burden: 
$282,024,234 per year. There are no capital start-up or maintenance 
costs associated with this information collection. However, this 
collection does have annual (non-hour) costs in the form of 
translations, drawings, fees, recordkeeping costs, and postage costs.
    Under the terms of the PCT, the USPTO may require documents 
submitted for a PCT application to be translated into English when 
necessary. This requirement may carry additional costs for the 
applicant to contract for a translation of the documents in question. 
The USPTO believes that the average length of the documents to be 
translated will be 10 pages and that it will cost $150 per page for the 
translation, for an average translation cost of $1,500 per document. 
The USPTO estimates that it receives approximately 1,655 English 
translations annually, for a total cost of $2,482,500 per year for 
English translations of non-English language documents for PCT 
applications.
    Applicants may also incur costs for drawings that are submitted as 
part of PCT applications. Some applicants may produce their own 
drawings, while others may contract out the work to various patent 
illustration firms. For the purpose of estimating burden for this 
collection, the USPTO will consider all applicants to have their 
drawings prepared by these firms. The USPTO estimates that drawings may 
cost an average of $58 per sheet to produce and that on average 11 
sheets of drawings are submitted per application, for an average total 
cost of $638 to produce a set of drawings for an application. The USPTO 
expects that approximately 91% of the estimated 53,527 applications per 
year will have drawings filed with them, for a total of 48,710 sets of 
drawings at a total cost of $31,076,980 per year.
    The estimated filing fees for this collection are calculated in the 
accompanying table. The fees listed for Requests and Demands represent 
an estimate of the average fees for filing the appropriate items 
associated with those requirements for an international application. 
The basic national fee under 37 CFR 1.492(a) for an international 
application entering the national stage is fixed at $330 ($165 for 
small entities). The search and examination fees under 37 CFR 1.492(b)-
(c) vary depending on the outcome of the written opinion prepared by 
the ISA/US, the international preliminary examination report prepared 
by the IPEA/US, and other related factors as noted in the accompanying 
table. The basic national fee, search fee, examination fee, and the 
fees for petitions to revive unavoidably or unintentionally abandoned 
international applications are discounted for small entities.

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                                                                  Estimated
                             Item                                  annual        Fee amount     Estimated annual
                                                                  responses                       filing costs
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Request and Fee Calculation Sheet (Annex and Notes) (PCT/RO/           53,527       $3,504.00    $187,558,608.00
 101)........................................................
Description/claims/drawings/abstracts........................          53,527            0.00               0.00
Application Data Sheet.......................................          39,592            0.00               0.00
Transmittal Letter to the United States Receiving Office (RO/          48,174            0.00               0.00
 US) (PTO-1382)..............................................

[[Page 54954]]

 
Transmittal Letter to the United States Designated/Elected                808          330.00         266,640.00
 Office (DO/EO/US) (PTO-1390)--U.S. was the ISA or IPEA and
 all claims satisfy PCT Article 33(1)-(4); includes $330
 basic fee, $0 search fee, and $0 examination fee............
Transmittal Letter to the DO/EO/US (PTO-1390)--U.S. was the               202          165.00          33,330.00
 ISA or IPEA and all claims satisfy PCT Article 33(1)-(4);
 includes $165 basic fee, $0 search fee, and $0 examination
 fee for small entity........................................
Transmittal Letter to the DO/EO/US (PTO-1390)--U.S. was the             1,935          650.00       1,257,750.00
 ISA; includes $330 basic fee, $100 search fee, and $220
 examination fee.............................................
Transmittal Letter to the DO/EO/US (PTO-1390)--U.S. was the             2,604          325.00         846,300.00
 ISA; includes $165 basic fee, $50 search fee, and $110
 examination fee for small entity............................
Transmittal Letter to the DO/EO/US (PTO-1390)--International           40,994          980.00      40,174,120.00
 search report prepared by other than the U.S. and provided
 to the USPTO or previously communicated to the U.S. by the
 IB; includes $330 basic fee, $430 search fee, and $220
 examination fee.............................................
Transmittal Letter to the DO/EO/US (PTO-1390)--International            9,667          490.00       4,736,830.00
 search report prepared by other than the U.S. and provided
 to the USPTO or previously communicated to the U.S. by the
 IB; includes $165 basic fee, $215 search fee, and $110
 examination fee for small entity............................
Transmittal Letter to the DO/EO/US (PTO-1390)--All other                1,669        1,090.00       1,819,210.00
 situations; includes $330 basic fee, $540 search fee, and
 $220 examination fee........................................
Transmittal Letter to the DO/EO/US (PTO-1390)--All other                  915          545.00         498,675.00
 situations; includes $165 basic fee, $270 search fee, and
 $110 examination fee for small entity.......................
PCT/Model of Power of Attorney...............................           5,353            0.00               0.00
PCT/Model of General Power of Attorney.......................             536            0.00               0.00
Extensions of time...........................................          21,000            0.00               0.00
Priority documents...........................................              20            0.00               0.00
Indications Relating to a Deposited Microorganism (PCT/RO/                 20            0.00               0.00
 134)........................................................
Response to invitation to correct defects....................          18,524            0.00               0.00
Request for rectification of obvious errors..................             589            0.00               0.00
Demand and Fee Calculation Sheet (Annex and Notes) (PCT/IPEA/           3,365          771.00       2,594,415.00
 401)........................................................
Amendments...................................................           3,365            0.00               0.00
Fee Authorization............................................          48,174            0.00               0.00
Requests to transmit copies of international application.....             501            0.00               0.00
Withdrawal of international application (PCT/IB/372).........           1,306            0.00               0.00
Translations.................................................           1,655            0.00               0.00
Petition for Revival of an International Application for                   25          540.00          13,500.00
 Patent Designating the U.S. Abandoned Unavoidably Under 37
 CFR 1.137(a) (PTO/SB/61/PCT)................................
Petition for Revival of an International Application for                   30          270.00           8,100.00
 Patent Designating the U.S. Abandoned Unavoidably Under 37
 CFR 1.137(a) (PTO/SB/61/PCT)--small entity..................
Petition for Revival of an International Application for                  565        1,620.00         915,300.00
 Patent Designating the U.S. Abandoned Unintentionally Under
 37 CFR 1.137(b) (PTO/SB/64/PCT).............................
Petition for Revival of an International Application for                  462          810.00         374,220.00
 Patent Designating the U.S. Abandoned Unintentionally Under
 37 CFR 1.137(b) (PTO/SB/64/PCT)--small entity...............
Petitions to the Commissioner for international applications.             581          130.00          75,530.00
Petitions to the Commissioner in national stage examination..           3,287          200.00         657,400.00
Acceptance of an unintentionally delayed claim for priority..             117        1,410.00         164,970.00
Request for the restoration of the right of priority (37 CFR              720        1,410.00       1,015,200.00
 1.78).......................................................
                                                              --------------------------------------------------
    Totals...................................................         363,809  ..............     243,010,098.00
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    In addition to the filing fees listed in the table, applicants may 
also incur fees for late filings, multiple dependent claims, and 
lengthy applications. The fee for the late filing of search or 
examination fees under 37 CFR 1.492(h) is $130 for large entities and 
$65 for small entities. The USPTO estimates that it will receive 
approximately 20,053 of these late payment fees for large entities and 
7,632 for small entities per year, for a total of $3,102,970. The fee 
for the late filing of an English translation of an international 
application under 37 CFR 1.492(i) is $130. The USPTO estimates that it 
will receive approximately 116 of these late translation fees per year, 
for a total of $15,080. The fee for applications containing a multiple 
dependent claim is $390 for large entities and $195 for small entities. 
The USPTO estimates that it will receive approximately 3,530 of these 
multiple dependent claim fees for large entities and 1,158 for small 
entities per year, for a total of $1,602,510. Applications with 
specifications and drawings that exceed 100 pages may be subject to an 
application size fee of $270 ($135 for small entities) for each 
additional 50 pages or fraction thereof. The USPTO estimates that it 
will receive approximately 2,205 of the $270 size fees from large 
entities and approximately 621 of the $135 size fees from small 
entities per year, for a total of $679,185. The total estimated fees 
for this collection, including filing fees and other additional fees, 
will be approximately $248,409,843 per year.
    There are recordkeeping costs associated with filing PCT 
submissions online using EFS-Web. The USPTO recommends that customers 
print and retain a copy of the acknowledgment receipt after a 
successful online submission. The USPTO estimates that it will take 
five seconds (0.001 hours) to print a copy of the acknowledgment 
receipt and that approximately 309,238 PCT-related items per year will 
be submitted via EFS-Web, for a total of approximately 309 hours per 
year for printing this receipt. The USPTO expects that these receipts 
will be printed by paraprofessionals at an

[[Page 54955]]

estimated rate of $100 per hour, for an estimated recordkeeping cost of 
$30,900 per year.
    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 cost for a mailed submission will be 44 
cents and that up to 54,571 submissions will be mailed to the USPTO per 
year. The total estimated postage cost for this collection is $24,011 
per year.
    The total annual (non-hour) respondent cost burden for this 
collection associated with translations, drawings, fees, recordkeeping, 
and postage is estimated to be $282,024,234 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: October 20, 2009.
Susan K. Fawcett,
Records Officer, USPTO, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. E9-25652 Filed 10-23-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-16-P