[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 93 (Tuesday, May 16, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22519-22521]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-09809]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

 Patent and Trademark Office


Responses to Office Action and Voluntary Amendment Forms

ACTION: Proposed collection; comment request.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), as 
required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, invites comments on a 
proposed extension of an existing information collection: 0651-0050 
(Responses to Office Action and Voluntary Amendment Forms).

DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before July 17, 2017.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
     Email: [email protected]. Include ``0651-
0050 comment'' in the subject line of the message.
     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.
     Federal Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information 
should be directed to Catherine Cain, Attorney Advisor, Office of the 
Commissioner for Trademarks, United States Patent and Trademark Office, 
P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450, by telephone at 571-272-8946, 
or by email at [email protected]. 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 Trademark Act, 15 
U.S.C. 1051 et seq., which provides for the federal registration of 
trademarks, service marks, collective trademarks and services marks, 
collective membership marks, and certification marks. Individuals and 
business that use such marks, or intend to use such marks, in 
interstate commerce may file an application to register their marks 
with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). This 
collection generally contains information that is not submitted with 
the initial trademark application but is associated with, or required 
for, the USPTO review of applications for registration.
    In some cases, the USPTO issues Office Actions to applicants who 
have applied to register a mark, requesting information that was not 
provided with the initial submission, but is required before the 
issuance of a registration. Also, the USPTO may determine that a mark 
is not entitled to registration, pursuant to one or more provisions of 
the Trademark Act. In such cases, the USPTO will issue an Office Action 
advising the applicant of the refusal to register the mark. Applicants 
reply to these Office Actions by providing the required information 
and/or by putting forth legal arguments as to why the refusal of 
registration should be withdrawn.
    The USPTO administers the Trademark Act through Chapter 37 of the 
Code of Federal Regulations. These rules allow the USPTO to request and 
receive information required to process applications. These rules also 
allow applicants to submit certain amendments to their applications.
    Applicants may also supplement their applications and provide 
further information by filing a Voluntary Amendment Not in Response to 
USPTO Office Action/Letter, a Request for Reconsideration after Final 
Office Action, a Post-Approval/Publication/Post-Notice of Allowance 
(NOA) Amendment, a Petition to Amend Basis Post-Publication, or a 
Response to Suspension Inquiry or Letter of Suspension. In rare 
instances, an applicant may also submit a Substitute Trademark/
Servicemark, Substitute Certification Mark, Substitute Collective 
Membership Mark, or Substitute Collective Trademark/Servicemark 
application.

II. Method of Collection

    The forms in this collection are available in electronic format 
through the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS), which may 
be accessed on the USPTO Web site. TEAS Global Forms are available for 
the items where a TEAS form with dedicated data fields is not yet 
available. Applicants may also submit the information in paper form by 
mail, fax, or hand delivery.

III. Data

    OMB Number: 0651-0050.
    Form Numbers: PTO-1771, PTO-1822, PTO-1957, PTO-1960, and PTO-1966.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits; not-for-profit 
institutions; individuals.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 472,301 responses per year.
    Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that it will take 
the public between 10 minutes (0.16 hours) and 45 minutes (0.75 hours), 
depending on the complexity of the situation, to gather the necessary 
information, prepare the appropriate documents, and submit the 
information required for this collection.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Burden Hours: 266,184 hours per 
year.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Cost Burden: $109,135,440.00. The 
USPTO expects that the information in this collection will be prepared 
by attorneys at an estimated rate of $410 per hour. Therefore, the 
USPTO estimates that the respondent cost burden for this collection 
will be approximately $109,135,440.00 per year.

                                                              Table 1--Total Hourly Burden
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                            Estimated       Estimated
            IC #                           Item                   Estimated time for         annual       annual burden    Rate ($/hr)      Estimated
                                                                   response (hours)         responses         hours                       annual burden
                                                              (a)......................             (b)     (a) x (b) =             (d)  (c) x (d) = (e)
                                                                                                                    (c)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1...........................  Response to Office Action       0.58 (35 minutes)........         410,722         238,219         $410.00   $97,699,790.00
                               (TEAS).
1...........................  Response to Office Action       0.67 (40 minutes)........           9,847           6,597          410.00    2,704,770..00
                               (Paper).

[[Page 22520]]

 
2...........................  Substitute Trademark/           0.50 (30 minutes)........               1               1          410.00           410.00
                               Servicemark Application,
                               Principal Register (TEAS
                               Global).
2...........................  Substitute Trademark/           0.50 (30 minutes)........               1               1          410.00           410.00
                               Servicemark Application,
                               Principal Register (Paper).
3...........................  Substitute Certification Mark   0.50 (30 minutes)........               1               1          410.00           410.00
                               (TEAS Global).
3...........................  Substitute Certification Mark   0.50 (30 minutes)........               1               1          410.00           410.00
                               (Paper).
4...........................  Substitute Collective           0.50 (30 minutes)........               1               1          410.00           410.00
                               Membership Mark (TEAS Global).
4...........................  Substitute Collective           0.50 (30 minutes)........               1               1          410.00           410.00
                               Membership Mark (Paper).
5...........................  Substitute Collective           0.50 (30 minutes)........               1               1          410.00           410.00
                               Trademark/Servicemark (TEAS
                               Global).
5...........................  Substitute Collective           0.50 (30 minutes)........               1               1          410.00           410.00
                               Trademark/Servicemark (Paper).
6...........................  Voluntary Amendment Not in      0.33 (20 minutes)........          16,117           5,319          410.00     2,180,790.00
                               Response to USPTO Office
                               Action/Letter (TEAS).
6...........................  Voluntary Amendment Not in      0.50 (30 minutes)........             163              82          410.00        33,620.00
                               Response to USPTO Office
                               Action/Letter (Paper).
7...........................  Request for Reconsideration     0.67 (40 minutes)........          17,515          11,735          410.00     4,811,350.00
                               After Final Office Action
                               (TEAS).
7...........................  Request for Reconsideration     0.75 (45 minutes)........              44              33          410.00        13,530.00
                               After Final Office Action
                               (Paper).
8...........................  Post-Approval/Publication/Post- 0.42 (25 minutes)........           4,541           1,907          410.00       781,870.00
                               Notice of Allowance (NOA)
                               Amendment (TEAS).
8...........................  Post-Approval/Publication/Post- 0.50 (30 minutes)........              11               6          410.00         2,460.00
                               Notice of Allowance (NOA)
                               Amendment (Paper).
9...........................  Petition to Amend Basis Post-   0.33 (20 minutes)........             800             264          410.00       108,240.00
                               Publication (TEAS Global).
9...........................  Petition to Amend Basis Post-   0.42 (25 minutes)........              33              14          410.00         5,740.00
                               Publication (Paper).
10..........................  Response to Suspension Inquiry  0.16 (10 minutes)........          12,499           2,000          410.00       820,000.00
                               or Letter of Suspension
                               (TEAS).
10..........................  Response to Suspension Inquiry  0.25 (15 minutes)........              13               3          410.00         1,230.00
                               or Letter of Suspension.
                                                                                        ----------------------------------------------------------------
    Total...................  ..............................  .........................         472,300         266,184  ..............   109,135,440.00
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Estimated Total Annual (Non-hour Respondent Cost Burden: 
$113,053.35. There are no capital start-up, maintenance, or record-
keeping costs associated with this information collection. However, 
this collection does have annual (non-hour) costs in the form of 
postage costs and filing fees.
    Customers incur postage costs when submitting non-electronic 
information to the USPTO by mail through the United States Postal 
Service. The USPTO expects that the majority (roughly 98%) of the paper 
forms are submitted to the USPTO via first-class mail. The USPTO 
estimates that these submissions will typically weigh approximately one 
ounce and that the first-class postage for these submissions is $0.49 
per submission.

                                             Table 2--Postage Costs
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                                   Total  (non-
             IC #                             Item                  Responses     Postage costs     hour) cost
                                                                                       ($)            burden
                                                                            (a)             (b)    (a x b) = (c)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.............................  Response to Office Action......           9,847           $0.49        $4,825.03
2.............................  Substitute Trademark/                         1            0.49             0.49
                                 Servicemark Application,
                                 Principal Register.
3.............................  Substitute Certification Mark..               1            0.49             0.49
4.............................  Substitute Collective                         1            0.49             0.49
                                 Membership Mark.
5.............................  Substitute Collective Trademark/              1            0.49             0.49
                                 Servicemark.

[[Page 22521]]

 
6.............................  Voluntary Amendment Not in                  163            0.49            79.87
                                 Response to USPTO Office
                                 Action/Letter.
7.............................  Request for Reconsideration                  44            0.49            21.56
                                 After Final Office Action.
8.............................  Post-Approval/Publication/Post-              11            0.49             5.39
                                 Notice of Allowance (NOA)
                                 Amendment.
9.............................  Petition to Amend Basis Post-                33            0.49            16.17
                                 Publication.
10............................  Response to Suspension Inquiry               13            0.49             6.37
                                 or Letter of Suspension.
                                                                ------------------------------------------------
                                Total..........................           9,850  ..............         4,953.35
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    There are three filing fees associated with the collection, 
detailed in Table 3 below.

                                              Table 3--Filing Fees
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                      Annual
                IC #                             Item                estimated      Filing Fee      Filing fee
                                                                     responses                         costs
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2..................................  Additional fee for                      172         $125.00      $21,500.00
                                      application that does not
                                      meet TEAS Plus or TEAS RF
                                      filing requirements, per
                                      Class.
9..................................  Petition to Amend Basis                 800          100.00       80,000.00
                                      Post-Publication (TEAS
                                      Global).
9..................................  Petition to Amend Basis                  33          200.00        6,600.00
                                      Post-Publication (Paper).
                                                                 -----------------------------------------------
Total                                   ........................           1,005  ..............      108,100.00
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The USPTO estimates that the total (non-hour) respondent cost 
burden for this collection in the form of both postage costs and filing 
fees is $113,053.35 per year.

IV. Request for Comments

    Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized 
and/or included in the request for OMB approval. All comments will 
become a matter of public record.
    The USPTO is soliciting public comments to: (a) Evaluate 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) evaluate the accuracy of 
the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of 
information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions 
used; (c) enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information 
to be collected; and (d) minimize the burden of the collection of 
information on those who are to respond, including through the use of 
appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological 
collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., 
permitting electronic submission of responses.

Marcie Lovett,
Records Management Division Director, USPTO, Office of the Chief 
Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2017-09809 Filed 5-15-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-16-P