[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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