[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 206 (Tuesday, October 26, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65611-65612]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-26975]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Patent and Trademark Office
Native American Tribal Insignia Database
ACTION: Proposed collection; comment request.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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 27,
2010.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
E-mail: [email protected]. Include ``0651-
0048 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, 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 Sharon Marsh, Deputy Commissioner for Trademark
Examination Policy, Office of the Commissioner for Trademarks, United
States Patent and Trademark Office, P.O. Box 1451, Alexandria, VA
22313-1451, by telephone at 571-272-8900, or by e-mail to
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Abstract
The Trademark Law Treaty Implementation Act of 1998 (Pub. L. 105-
330, Sec. 302, 112 Stat. 3071) required the United States Patent and
Trademark Office (USPTO) to study issues surrounding the protection of
the official insignia of federally- and State-recognized Native
American tribes under trademark law. The USPTO conducted the study and
presented a report to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees on
November 30, 1999. One of the recommendations made in the report was
that the USPTO create and maintain an accurate and comprehensive
database containing the official insignia of all federally- and State-
recognized Native American tribes. In accordance with this
recommendation, the Senate Committee on Appropriations directed the
USPTO to create this database.
The USPTO database of official tribal insignias assists trademark
attorneys in their examination of applications for trademark
registration. Additionally, the database provides evidence of what a
federally- or State-recognized Native American tribe considers to be
its official insignia. The database serves as a reference for examining
attorneys when determining the registrability of a mark that may
falsely suggest a connection to the official insignia of a Native
American tribe. The database is also available to the public on the
USPTO Web site.
Tribes are not required to request that their official insignia be
included in the database. The entry of an official insignia into the
database does not confer any rights to the tribe that submitted the
insignia, and entry is not the legal equivalent of registering the
insignia as a trademark under 15 U.S.C. 1051 et seq. The inclusion of
an official tribal insignia in the database does not create any legal
presumption of validity or priority, does not carry any of the benefits
of Federal trademark registration, and is not a determination as to
whether a particular insignia would be refused registration as a
trademark pursuant to 15 U.S.C. 1051 et seq.
Requests from federally-recognized tribes to enter an official
insignia into the database must be submitted in writing and include:
(1) A depiction of the insignia, including the name of the tribe and
the address for correspondence; (2) a copy of the tribal resolution
adopting the insignia in question as the official insignia of the
tribe; and (3) a statement, signed by an official with authority to
bind the tribe, confirming that the insignia included with the request
is identical to the official insignia adopted by the tribal resolution.
Requests from State-recognized tribes must also be in writing and
include each of the three items described above that are submitted by
federally-recognized tribes. Additionally, requests from State-
recognized tribes must include either: (a) A document issued by a State
official that evidences the State's determination that the entity is a
Native American tribe; or (b) a citation to a State statute designating
the entity as a Native American tribe. The USPTO enters insignia that
have been properly submitted by federally- or State-recognized Native
American tribes into the database and does not investigate whether the
insignia is actually the official insignia of the tribe making the
request.
This collection includes the information needed by the USPTO to
enter an official insignia for a federally- or State-recognized Native
American tribe into a database of such insignia. No forms are
associated with this collection.
II. Method of Collection
By mail, facsimile, or hand delivery to the USPTO.
III. Data
OMB Number: 0651-0048.
Form Number(s): None.
Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved collection.
Affected Public: Tribal governments.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 8 responses per year.
Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that a federally-
or State-recognized Native American tribe will require an average of 30
minutes (0.5 hours) to complete a request to record an official
insignia, including time to prepare the appropriate documents and
submit the completed request to the USPTO.
Estimated Total Annual Respondent Burden Hours: 5. hours.
Estimated Total Annual Respondent Cost Burden: $325. The USPTO
expects that the information in this collection will be prepared by
both paraprofessionals and administrative staff. The estimated rate of
$65 per hour used in this submission is an average of the
paraprofessional rate of $100 per hour and the administrative rate of
$30 per hour. Using this rate of $65 per hour, the USPTO estimates that
the respondent cost burden for submitting the information in this
collection will be $325 per year.
[[Page 65612]]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Estimated Estimated
time for Estimated annual
Item response annual burden
(minutes) responses hours
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Request to Record an Official 30 5 3
Insignia of a Federally-Recognized
Tribe..............................
Request to Record an Official 30 3 2
Insignia of a State-Recognized
Tribe..............................
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals.......................... .......... 8 5
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Estimated Total Annual Non-hour Respondent Cost Burden: $8. There
are no capital start-up, maintenance, or recordkeeping costs associated
with this information collection. There are also no filing fees for
submitting a tribal insignia for recording. However, this collection
does have annual (non-hour) costs in the form of postage costs.
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 submission mailed through the
U.S. Postal Service will be $1.05 and that up to 8 submissions will be
mailed to the USPTO per year. Therefore, the total non-hour respondent
cost burden for this collection in the form of postage costs is
approximately $8 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, 2010.
Susan K. Fawcett,
Records Officer, USPTO, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2010-26975 Filed 10-25-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-16-P