[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 38 (Wednesday, February 26, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10787-10788]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-04038]
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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 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 Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) Actions.
Form Number(s): None.
Agency Approval Number: 0651-0063.
Type of Request: Revision of a currently approved collection.
Burden: 858,683 hours annually.
Number of Respondents: 34,537 responses per year. The USPTO
estimates that approximately 8,634 of these responses will be from
small entities. The USPTO also estimates that 32,119 responses will be
filed electronically.
Avg. Hours per Response: The USPTO estimates that it will take the
public approximately 2 to 32 hours to complete the briefs, amendments,
requests, and petitions in this collection, depending on the complexity
of the request. This includes the time to gather the necessary
information, prepare the brief, petition, and other papers, and submit
the completed request to the USPTO. The USPTO assumes that, on balance,
it takes the same amount of time to gather the necessary information,
prepare the brief, petition, and other papers, and submit the completed
request to the USPTO, whether the applicant submits it in paper form or
electronically.
Needs and Uses: The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB or Board)
is established by statute under 35 U.S.C. Sec. 6. This statute directs
that PTAB ``shall on written appeal of an applicant, review adverse
decisions of examiners upon applications for patent and shall determine
priority and patentability of invention in interferences.'' PTAB has
the authority, under pre-AIA sections of the Patent Act, i.e., 35
U.S.C. Sec. Sec. 134, 135, 306, and 315, to decide ex parte and inter
partes appeals and interferences. The membership of the Board is
established under 35 U.S.C. Sec. 6. This collection permits applicants
to prepare appeal and reply briefs which set forth the claims, issues,
and arguments on appeal to the PTAB and permits applicants to file
amendments to cancel pending, rejected claims that
[[Page 10788]]
they do not wish to be considered on appeal by the Board. Applicants
may request that the PTAB reconsider its decision by filing a request
for rehearing before the PTAB. Parties may also petition the Chief
Administrative Patent Judge on matters pending before the Board. The
PTAB uses the information to aid in rendering a decision on the claims,
issues, and arguments submitted by the applicant, to determine which
claims are on appeal, to decide whether to grant or deny a request for
reconsideration of a decision, and to determine whether the necessary
information has been provided to grant the petition. There are no forms
associated with the items in this collection; however, they are
governed by the rules in Part 41 and failure to comply with the
appropriate rule may result in the dismissal of the appeal or denial of
entry of the paper.
Affected Public: Individuals or households; businesses or other
for-profits; non-profit institutions; and the Federal Government.
Frequency: On occasion.
Respondent's Obligation: Required to obtain or retain benefits.
OMB Desk Officer: Nicholas A. Fraser, email: [email protected].
Once submitted, the request will be publicly available in
electronic format through the Information Collection Review page at
www.reginfo.gov.
Paper copies can be obtained by:
Email: [email protected]. Include ``0651-
0063 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 March 28, 2014 to Nicholas A.
Fraser, OMB Desk Officer, via email to [email protected], or by fax to 202-395-5167, marked to the attention
of Nicholas A. Fraser.
Dated: February 20, 2014.
Susan K. Fawcett,
Records Officer, USPTO, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2014-04038 Filed 2-25-14; 8:45 am]
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