[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 133 (Tuesday, July 13, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39913-39914]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-16975]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

United States 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 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 Term Extension.
    Form Number(s): PTO/SB/131.
    Agency Approval Number: 0651-0020.
    Type of Request: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Burden: 7,808 hours annually.
    Number of Respondents: 13,586 responses per year.
    Avg. Hours per Response: The USPTO estimates that it will take the 
public approximately 10 minutes (0.17 hours) to 25 hours, depending on 
the complexity and type of filing, to gather the necessary information, 
prepare the

[[Page 39914]]

appropriate documents, and submit the information in this collection to 
the USPTO.
    Needs and Uses: The patent term restoration portion of the Drug 
Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984 (Pub. L. 98-
417), which is codified at 35 U.S.C. 156, permits the USPTO to extend 
the term of protection under a patent to compensate for delay during 
regulatory review and approval by the Food and Drug Administration 
(FDA) or Department of Agriculture. Only patents for drug products, 
medical devices, food additives, or color additives are potentially 
eligible for extension. The maximum length that a patent may be 
extended under 35 U.S.C. 156 is five years. The USPTO administers 35 
U.S.C. 156 through 37 CFR 1.710-1.791.
    Separate from the extension provisions of 35 U.S.C. 156, the USPTO 
may in some cases extend the term of an original patent due to certain 
delays in the prosecution of the patent application, including delays 
caused by interference proceedings, secrecy orders, or appellate review 
by the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences or a Federal court in 
which the patent is issued pursuant to a decision reversing an adverse 
determination of patentability. The patent term provisions of 35 U.S.C. 
154(b), as amended by Title IV, Subtitle D of the Intellectual Property 
and Communications Omnibus Reform Act of 1999, require the USPTO to 
notify the applicant of the patent term adjustment in the notice of 
allowance and give the applicant an opportunity to request 
reconsideration of the USPTO's patent term adjustment determination. 
The USPTO administers 35 U.S.C. 154 through 37 CFR 1.701-1.705.
    The public uses this information collection to file requests 
related to patent term extensions and reconsideration or reinstatement 
of patent term adjustments. The information in this collection is used 
by the USPTO to consider whether an applicant is eligible for a patent 
term extension or reconsideration of a patent term adjustment and, if 
so, to determine the length of the patent term extension or adjustment.
    Affected Public: 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-
0020 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, 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 August 12, 2010 to Nicholas A. 
Fraser, OMB Desk Officer, via e-mail to [email protected], or by fax to 202-395-5167, marked to the attention 
of Nicholas A. Fraser.

    Dated: July 8, 2010.
Susan K. Fawcett,
Records Officer, USPTO, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2010-16975 Filed 7-12-10; 8:45 am]
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