[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 75 (Tuesday, April 19, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22967-22970]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-09037]



[[Page 22967]]

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

 Patent and Trademark Office


Patent Cooperation Treaty

ACTION: Proposed collection; comment request.

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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 comment on the 
continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995, Public Act of 1996, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C 
3506(c)(2)(A)).

DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before June 20, 2016.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
     Email: [email protected]. Include ``0651-021 
comment'' in the subject line of the message.
     Federal Register Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
     Mail: Marcie Lovett, Records Management Division Director, 
Office of the Chief Information Officer; United States Patent and 
Trademark Office; P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information 
should be directed to Rafael Bacares, Senior Legal Advisor, Office of 
Patent Legal Administration, United States Patent and Trademark Office, 
P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria VA 22313-1450; by telephone at 571-272-3276; 
or by email at [email protected] with ``Paperwork'' in the 
subject line. Additional information about this collection is also 
available at http://www.reginfo.gov under ``Information Collection 
Review.''

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Abstract

    This collection of information is required by the provisions of the 
Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), which became operational in June 1978 
and is administered by the International Bureau (IB) of the World 
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva, Switzerland. The 
provisions of the PCT have been implemented by the United States in 
part IV of title 35 of the U.S. Code (chapters 35-37) and subpart C of 
title 37 of the Code of Federal Regulations (37 CFR 1.401-1.499). The 
purpose of the PCT is to provide a standardized filing format and 
procedure that allows an applicant to seek protection for an invention 
in several countries by filing one international application in one 
location, in one language, and paying one initial set of fees.
    The information in this collection is used by the public to submit 
a patent application under the PCT and by the United States Patent and 
Trademark Office (USPTO) to fulfill its obligation to process, search, 
and examine the application as directed by the treaty. The USPTO acts 
as the United States Receiving Office (RO/US) for international 
applications filed by residents and nationals of the United States. 
These applicants send most of the correspondence directly to the USPTO, 
but they may also file certain documents directly with the IB. The 
USPTO serves as an International Searching Authority (ISA) to perform 
searches and issue international search reports (ISR) and the written 
opinions on international applications. The USPTO also issues 
international preliminary reports on patentability (IPRP Chapter II) 
when acting as an International Preliminary Examining Authority (IPEA).

II. Method of Collection

    By mail, hand delivery, or electronic submission to the USPTO.

III. Data

    OMB Number: 0651-0021.
    IC Instruments and Forms: The individual instruments in this 
collection, as well as their associated forms, are listed in the table 
below.
    Type of Review: Revision of a Previously Existing Information 
Collection.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households; business or other for-
profits; and not-for-profit institutions.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 423,970 responses per year.
    Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that it will take 
the public between 0.25 hours (15 minutes) and 8 hours to gather the 
necessary information, prepare the appropriate form or documents, and 
submit the information to the USPTO.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Burden Hours: 364,830 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent (Hourly) Cost Burden: 
$149,380,300. The USPTO expects that attorneys will complete these 
applications. The current professional hourly rate for attorneys is 
$410.00. Using this hourly rate, the USPTO estimates that the total 
respondent cost burden for this collection is $149,380,300 per year.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                           Estimated       Estimated
         IC No.                      Item               Estimated time  for response        annual       annual burden    Rate ($/hr)      Total cost
                                                                    (hr)                   responses         hours                        burden ($/hr)
                                                      (a).............................             (b)     (a) x (b) =             (d)   (c) x (d) = (e)
                                                                                                                   (c)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1......................  Request and Fee Calculation  1...............................          56,480          56,480         $410.00    $23,156,800.00
                          Sheet (Annex and Notes)
                          (PCT/RO/101).
2......................  Description/claims/drawings/ 3...............................          56,480         169,480          410.00     69,470,400.00
                          abstracts.
3......................  Application Data Sheet (35   0.38 (23 minutes)...............          91,477          34,761          410.00     14,252,010.00
                          U.S.C. 371 applications).
4......................  Transmittal Letter to the    0.25 (15 minutes)...............          50,832          12,708          410.00      5,210,280.00
                          United States Receiving
                          Office (RO/US) (PTO-1382).
5......................  Transmittal Letter to the    0.25 (15 minutes)...............          85,387          21,347          410.00      8,752,270.00
                          United States Designated/
                          Elected Office (DO/EO/US)
                          Concerning a Submission
                          Under 35 U.S.C. 371 (PTO-
                          1390).
6......................  PCT/Model of Power of        0.25 (15 minutes)...............           2,824             706          410.00        289,460.00
                          Attorney.
7......................  PCT/Model of General Power   0.25 (15 minutes)...............             282              71          410.00         29,110.00
                          of Attorney.

[[Page 22968]]

 
8......................  Indications Relating to a    0.25 15 minutes)................               1               0          410.00              0.00
                          Deposited Microorganism
                          (PCT/RO/134).
9......................  Response to invitation to    2...............................          15,117          30,234          410.00     12,395,940.00
                          correct defects.
10.....................  Request for rectification    0.50 (30 minutes)...............             867             434          410.00        177,940.00
                          of obvious errors.
11.....................  Demand and Fee Calculation   1...............................           1,406           1,406          410.00        576,460.00
                          Sheet (Annex and Notes)
                          (PCT/IPEA/401).
12.....................  Amendments (Article 34)....  1...............................           1,406           1,406          410.00        576,460.00
13.....................  Fee Authorization..........  0.25 (15 minutes)...............          50,832          12,708          410.00      5,210,280.00
14.....................  Requests to transmit copies  0.25 (15 minutes)...............           1,081             270          410.00        110,700.00
                          of international
                          application.
15.....................  Withdrawal of international  0.25 (15 minutes)...............           1,580             395          410.00        161,950.00
                          application (PCT/IB/372).
16.....................  Translations...............  2...............................           2,298           4,596          410.00      1,884,360.00
17.....................  Petition for Revival of an   1...............................             887             887          410.00        363,670.00
                          International Application
                          for Patent Designating the
                          U.S. Abandoned
                          Unintentionally Under 37
                          CFR 1.137(a) (PTO/SB/64/
                          PCT).
18.....................  Petitions to the             4...............................             133             532          410.00        218,120.00
                          Commissioner for
                          international applications.
19.....................  Petitions to the             4...............................           3,191          12,764          410.00      5,233,240.00
                          Commissioner in national
                          stage examination.
20.....................  Acceptance of an             2...............................             542           1,084          410.00        444,440.00
                          unintentionally delayed
                          claim for priority (37 CFR
                          1.78(a)(3)).
21.....................  Request for the restoration  3...............................             867           2,601          410.00      1,066,410.00
                          of the right of priority.
                                                     ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals.............  ...........................  ................................         423,970         364,830  ..............    149,580,300.00
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    Estimated Total Annual (Non-hour) Respondent Cost Burden: 
$305,509,626.10. This collection has annual (non-hour) costs in the 
form of translations, drawings, filing fees, and postage costs.

Translations and Drawings

    Under the terms of the PCT, the USPTO may require documents 
submitted for a PCT application to be translated into English when 
necessary. This requirement may carry additional costs for the 
applicant to contract for a translation of the documents in questions. 
The USPTO believes that the average length of the document to be 
translated will be 10 pages and that it will cost approximately $150 
per page for the translation, for an average translation cost of $1,500 
per document. The USPTO estimates that it receives approximately 21,180 
English translations annually, for a total of $31,770,000 per year for 
English translations of non-English language documents for PCT 
applications.
    Applicants may also incur costs for drawings that are submitted as 
part of PCT applications. Some applicants may produce their own 
drawings, while others may contract out the work to various patent 
illustration firms. For the purpose of estimating burden for this 
collection, the USPTO will consider all applicants to have their 
drawings prepared by these firms. The USPTO estimates that drawings may 
cost an average of $58 per sheet to produce and that on average 11 
sheets of drawings are submitted per application, for an average total 
cost of $638 to produce a set of drawings for an application. The USPTO 
expects that approximately 91% of the estimated 48,285 applications per 
year will have drawings filed with them, for a total of 43,939 sets of 
drawings with a total cost of $28,033,082 per year.

Filing Fee

    The estimated filing fees for this collection are calculated in the 
accompanying table.

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                                                                                                    Total fee
           IC No.                           Item                   Responses         Fees            amount
                                                                           (a)             (b)   (a) x (b) = (c)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                             Request and Fee Calculation Sheet          56,480       $1,254.00    $70,825,920.00
                              (Annex and Notes) (PCT/RO/101).
                             Demand and Fee Calculation Sheet            1,406          213.00        299,478.00
                              (Annex and Notes) (PCT/IPEA/401).
                             Acceptance of an unintentionally            1,409        2,000.00      2,818,000.00
                              delayed claim for priority, or
                              for filing a request for the
                              restoration of the right of
                              priority.
                             Basic National Stage Fee (Large            65,948          300.00     19,784,400.00
                              entity).
                             Basic National Stage Fee (Small            19,893          150.00      2,983,950.00
                              entity).
                             Basic National Stage Fee (Micro             1,197           75.00         89,775.00
                              entity).

[[Page 22969]]

 
                             National Stage Search Fee--U.S.               452               0              0.00
                              was the ISA or IPEA and all
                              claims satisfy PCT Article 33(1)-
                              (4).
                             National Stage Search Fee--U.S.             2,728          140.00        381,920.00
                              was the ISA (Large entity).
                             National Stage Search Fee--U.S.             2,918           70.00        204,260.00
                              was the ISA (Small entity).
                             National Stage Search Fee--U.S.               206           35.00          7,210.00
                              was the ISA (Micro entity).
                             National Stage Search Fee--search          60,196          520.00     31,301,920.00
                              report prepared and provided to
                              USPTO (Large entity).
                             National Stage Search Fee--search          15,917          260.00      4,138,420.00
                              report prepared and provided to
                              USPTO (Small entity).
                             National Stage Search Fee--search             866          130.00        112,580.00
                              report prepared and provided to
                              USPTO (Micro entity).
                             National Stage Examination Fee--              452               0              0.00
                              U.S. was the ISA or IPEA and all
                              claims satisfy PCT Article 33(1)-
                              (4).
                             Transmitting application to Intl.             313          240.00         75,120.00
                              Bureau to act as receiving
                              office (Large entity).
                             Transmitting application to Intl.             191          120.00         22,920.00
                              Bureau to act as receiving
                              office (Small entity).
                             Transmitting application to Intl.              21           60.00          1,260.00
                              Bureau to act as receiving
                              office (Micro entity).
                             National Stage Search Fee--all              2,864          660.00      1,890,240.00
                              other situations (Large entity).
                             National Stage Search Fee--all                908          330.00        299,640.00
                              other situations (Small entity).
                             National Stage Search Fee--all                118          165.00            19,470
                              other situations (Micro entity).
                             National Stage Examination Fee--           65,701          760.00     49,932,760.00
                              all other situations (Large
                              entity).
                             National Stage Examination Fee--           19,653          380.00      7,468,140.00
                              all other situations (Small
                              entity).
                             National Stage Examination Fee--            1,171          190.00        222,490.00
                              all other situations (Micro
                              entity).
                             Search fee, examination fee or             23,193          140.00      3,247,020.00
                              oath of declaration after thirty
                              months from priority date (Large
                              entity).
                             Search fee, examination fee or             10,149           70.00        710,430.00
                              oath of declaration after thirty
                              months from priority date (Small
                              entity).
                             Search fee, examination fee or                304           35.00         10,640.00
                              oath of declaration after thirty
                              months from priority date (Micro
                              entity).
                             English translation after thirty            1,467          140.00        205,380.00
                              months from priority date (Large
                              entity).
                             English translation after thirty              782           70.00         54,740.00
                              months from priority date (Small
                              entity).
                             English translation after thirty               49           35.00          1,715.00
                              months from priority date (Micro
                              entity).
                             Transmittal fee (Large entity)...          39,370          240.00      9,448,800.00
                             Transmittal fee (Small entity)...          16,017          120.00      1,922,040.00
                             Transmittal fee (Micro entity)...           1,240           60.00         74,400.00
                             Search fee--regardless of whether           8,227        2,080.00     17,112,160.00
                              there is a corresponding
                              application (see 35 U.S.C.
                              361(d) and PCT Rule 16) (Large
                              entity).
                             Search fee--regardless of whether          10,929        1,040.00     11,366,160.00
                              there is a corresponding
                              application (see 35 U.S.C.
                              361(d) and PCT Rule 16) (Small
                              entity).
                             Search fee--regardless of whether           1,129          520.00        587,080.00
                              there is a corresponding
                              application (see 35 U.S.C.
                              361(d) and PCT Rule 16) (Micro
                              entity).
                             Supplemental search fee when                    1        2,080.00          2,080.00
                              required, per additional
                              invention.
                             Preliminary examination fee--U.S.             346          600.00        207,600.00
                              was the ISA (Large entity).
                             Preliminary examination fee--U.S.             257          300.00         77,100.00
                              was the ISA (Small entity).
                             Preliminary examination fee--U.S.              54          150.00          8,100.00
                              was the ISA (Micro entity).
                             Preliminary examination fee--U.S.             143          760.00        108,680.00
                              was not the ISA (Large entity).
                             Preliminary examination fee--U.S.              31          380.00         11,780.00
                              was not the ISA (Small entity).
                             Preliminary examination fee--U.S.               1          190.00            190.00
                              was not the ISA (Micro entity).
                             Supplemental examination fee per                0          600.00              0.00
                              additional invention (Large
                              entity).
                             Supplemental examination fee per                4          300.00          1,200.00
                              additional invention (Small
                              entity).
                             Supplemental examination fee per                0          150.00              0.00
                              additional invention (Micro
                              entity).
                             National Stage Application Size             2,325          400.00        930,000.00
                              Fee--for each additional 50
                              sheets that exceed 100 sheets
                              (Large entity).
                             National Stage Application Size             1,181          200.00        236,200.00
                              Fee--for each additional 50
                              sheets that exceed 100 sheets
                              (Small entity).
                             National Stage Application Size                36          100.00          3,600.00
                              Fee--for each additional 50
                              sheets that exceed 100 sheets
                              (Micro entity).
                             [PCT National Stage] Claims--               7,565          460.00      3,479,900.00
                              extra independent (over three)
                              (Large entity).
                             [PCT National Stage] Claims--               2,650          230.00        609,500.00
                              extra independent (over three)
                              (Small entity).
                             [PCT National Stage] Claims--                 122          115.00         14,030.00
                              extra independent (over three)
                              (Micro entity).
                             [PCT National Stage] Claims--              10,797          100.00      1,079,700.00
                              extra total (over 20) (Large
                              entity).
                             [PCT National Stage] Claims--               5,574           50.00        278,700.00
                              extra total (over 20) (Small
                              entity).
                             [PCT National Stage] Claims--                 241           25.00         60,250.00
                              extra total (over 20) (Micro
                              entity).
                             [PCT National Stage] Claim--                  986          820.00        808,520.00
                              multiple dependent (Large
                              entity).
                             [PCT National Stage] Claim--                  522          410.00        214,020.00
                              multiple dependent (Small
                              entity).
                             [PCT National Stage] Claim--                   42          205.00          8,610.00
                              multiple dependent (Large
                              entity).
                                                               -------------------------------------------------
    Totals.................  .................................         466,522  ..............    245,700,473.00
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[[Page 22970]]

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 mailed submission will be 49 
cents and that up to 12,390 submissions (approximately 2% of responses) 
will be mailed to the USPTO per year, for a total estimated postage 
cost of $6,071.10 per year.
    The total annual (non-hour) respondent cost burden for this 
collection associated with translations, drawings, fees, and postage is 
estimated to be $310,789,891.10 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 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: April 13, 2016.
Joseph Rivera,
Office of Information Management Services Deputy Director, USPTO, 
Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2016-09037 Filed 4-18-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-16-P