[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 104 (Tuesday, May 31, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31305-31306]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-13366]


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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: Certain Patent Petitions Requiring a Fee (formerly Patent 
Petitions Corresponding to the Fee under 37 CFR 1.17(f)).
    Form Number(s): PTO/SB/17P, PTO/SB/23, PTO/SB/24a, PTO/SB/28 (EFS-
Web only), and PTO/SB/140 (EFS-Web only).
    Agency Approval Number: 0651-0059.
    Type of Request: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Burden: 41,907 hours annually.
    Number of Respondents: 39,015 responses per year.
    Avg. Hours Per Response: The USPTO estimates that it takes the 
public approximately 5 minutes (0.08 hours) to complete the petition 
fee transmittals and 12 minutes (0.20 hours) to 12 hours to complete 
the petitions in this collection, depending on the nature of the 
information. This includes the time to gather the necessary 
information, prepare the petitions and petition fee transmittals, and 
submit them to the USPTO. The USPTO estimates that it takes the same 
amount of time (and possibly less time) to gather the necessary 
information, prepare the submission, and submit it electronically as it 
does to submit the information in paper form.
    Needs and Uses: The public uses the information in this collection 
to petition for various actions under 37 CFR 1.17(f), (g), and (h), 
such as petitioning for a

[[Page 31306]]

suspension of the rules, requesting access to an assignment record, or 
requesting the withdrawal of an application from issue either before or 
after paying the issue fee. In addition, the public also uses these 
petitions to obtain copies of documents that have been submitted in a 
form other than that provided by the rules of practice, to request 
accelerated examination, to request abandonment of an application to 
avoid publication of said application, and to request an extension of 
time. The public uses the transmittal form to remit the required fees 
for the various petitions. The USPTO uses the information collected 
from the petitions to grant the various requests and to ensure that the 
proper fees have been remitted and are processed accordingly.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits.
    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-
0059 copy request'' in the subject line of the message.
     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 June 30, 2011 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: May 25, 2011.
Susan K. Fawcett,
Records Officer, USPTO, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2011-13366 Filed 5-27-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-16-P