[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 200 (Wednesday, October 18, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48489-48491]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-22618]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Representative and Address Provisions
ACTION: Proposed collection; comment request.
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SUMMARY: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), as
required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C.
3506(c)(2)(A)), invites comment on a proposed extension of an existing
information collection: 0651-0035 (Representative and Address
Provisions).
DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before December 18,
2017.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
Email: [email protected]. Include ``0651-
0035 comment'' in the subject line of the message.
Federal Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
Mail: Marcie Lovett, Records and Information Governance
Division Director, Office of the Chief Technology 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 Raul Tamayo, 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 571-272-7728;
or by email to [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Abstract
This information collection includes the information necessary to
submit a request to grant or revoke power of attorney for an
application, patent, or reexamination proceeding, and for a registered
practitioner to withdraw as attorney or agent of record. This
collection also includes the information necessary to change the
correspondence address for an application, patent, or reexamination
proceeding, to request a Customer Number and manage the correspondence
address and list of practitioners associated with a Customer Number,
and to designate or change the correspondence address or fee address
for one or more patents or applications by using a Customer Number.
Under 35 U.S.C. 2 and 37 CFR 1.31-1.32, power of attorney may be
granted to one or more joint inventors or a person who is registered to
practice before the USPTO to act in an application or a patent. In
particular, for an application filed before September 16, 2012, or for
a patent which issued from an application filed before September 16,
2012, power of attorney may be granted by the applicant for patent (as
set forth in 37 CFR 1.41(b) (pre-AIA)) or the assignee of the entire
interest of the applicant. For an application filed on or after
September 16, 2012, or for a patent which issued from an application
filed on or after September 16, 2012, power of attorney may be granted
by the applicant for patent (as set forth in 37 CFR 1.42) or the patent
owner.
The rules of practice (37 CFR 1.33) also provide for a
correspondence address and daytime telephone number to be supplied for
receiving notices, official letters, and other communications from the
USPTO. For an application filed before September 16, 2012, the address
and number may be supplied by a practitioner of record, all of the
applicants, or an assignee. In addition, a practitioner not of record
may supply the address and number for an application filed before
September 16, 2012, if the practitioner is named in the transmittal
papers accompanying the original application and if an oath or
declaration by any of the inventors has yet to be filed. For an
application filed on or after September 16, 2012, the address and
number may be supplied by a practitioner of record or the applicant. A
practitioner not of record who acts in a representative capacity may
supply the address and number for an application filed on or after
September 16, 2012, if the practitioner is named in the application
transmittal papers and if any power of attorney has yet to be
appointed.
37 CFR 1.36 provides for the revocation of a power of attorney at
any stage in the proceedings of a case. 37 CFR 1.36 also provides a
path by which a registered patent attorney or patent agent who has been
given a power of attorney may withdraw as attorney or agent of record.
The USPTO's Customer Number practice permits applicants, patent
owners, assignees, and practitioners of record, or the representatives
of record for a number of applications or patents, to change the
correspondence address of a patent application or patent with one
change request instead of filing separate requests for each patent or
application. Customers may request a Customer Number from the USPTO and
associate this Customer Number with a correspondence list or a list of
registered practitioners. Any changes to the address or practitioner
information associated with a Customer Number will be applied to all
patents and applications associated with said Customer Number.
The Customer Number practice is optional, in that changes of
correspondence address or power of attorney may be filed separately for
each patent or application without using a Customer Number. However, a
Customer Number associated with the correspondence address for a patent
application is required in order to access private information about
the application using the Patent Application Information Retrieval
(PAIR) system, which is available through the USPTO Web site. The PAIR
system gives authorized individuals secure online access to application
status information, but only for patent applications that are linked to
a Customer Number. Customer Numbers may be associated with U.S. patent
applications as well as international Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT)
applications. The use of a Customer Number also is required in order to
grant power of attorney to more than ten practitioners or to establish
a separate ``fee address'' for maintenance fee purposes that is
different from the correspondence address for a patent or application.
Customers may use a Customer Number Upload Spreadsheet to designate
or change the correspondence address or fee address for a list of
patents or applications by associating them with a Customer Number. The
Customer Number Upload Spreadsheet may not be used to change the power
of attorney for patents or applications. Customers may download a
Microsoft Excel template with instructions from the USPTO Web site to
assist them in preparing the spreadsheet in the proper format.
[[Page 48490]]
II. Method of Collection
By mail, facsimile, hand delivery, or electronically to the USPTO.
III. Data
OMB Number: 0651-0035.
Form Numbers: PTO/AIA/80, PTO/AIA/81, PTO/AIA/81B, PTO/AIA/82A,
PTO/AIA/82B, PTO/AIA/122, PTO/AIA/123, PTO/SB/80, PTO/SB/81, PTO/SB/
81A, PTO/SB/81B, PTO/SB/81C, PTO/SB/83, PTO/SB/84, PTO/SB/124, PTO/SB/
124, and PTO-2248.
Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved collection.
Affected Public: Individuals or households; business or other for-
profits; and not-for-profits institutions.
Estimated Number of Annual Respondents: 501,905 responses per year.
Estimates for numbers of responses are based on previous respondent
numbers and the anticipated participation trends over the next three
years.
Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that the response
time for activities related to Representative Address Provisions will
take the public between 0.05 hours (3 minutes) to 1.5 hours (90
minutes) to complete (See Table 1). This includes the time to gather
the necessary information, create the document, and submit the
completed request to the USPTO. The USPTO calculates that, on balance,
it takes the same amount of time to do this, regardless of whether the
public is submitting the information in paper form or electronically.
Estimated Total Annual Respondent Burden Hours: 28,479.25 hours.
Estimated Total Annual Respondent Cost Burden: $4,369,751.25. The
USPTO expects that Requests for Withdrawal as Attorney or Agent and the
two petitions in this collection will be prepared by attorneys, while
the other items in this collection will be prepared by
paraprofessionals. The professional hourly rate for attorneys is $438
and the professional hourly rate for paraprofessionals is $145. These
rates are established by estimates in the 2017 Report on the Economic
Survey, published by the Committee on Economics of Legal Practice of
the American Intellectual Property Law Association. Using this hourly
rate, the USPTO estimates that the total respondent cost burden for
this collection is $4,369,751.25 per year.
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Estimated
IC No. Items Estimated time for response (hours) annual Estimated Rate ($) Estimated
responses annual burden hourly cost
(a)................................... (b) (c) = (a) x (d) (e) = (c) x
(b) (d)
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1....................... Power of Attorney to 0.05 (3 minutes)...................... 4,000 200.00 145.00 $29,000.00
Prosecute Applications
Before the USPTO.
2....................... Power of Attorney or 0.05 (3 minutes)...................... 350,000 17,500.00 145.00 2,537,500.00
Revocation of Power of
Attorney with a New Power
of Attorney and Change of
Correspondence.
3....................... Patent--Power of Attorney or 0.05 (3 minutes)...................... 300 15.00 145.00 2,175.00
Revocation of Power of
Attorney with a New Power
of Attorney and Change of
Correspondence Address.
4....................... Reexamination--Patent Owner 0.05 (3 minutes)...................... 100 5.00 145.00 725.00
Power of Attorney or
Revocation of Power of
Attorney with a New Power
of Attorney and Change of
Correspondence Address.
5....................... Reexamination--Third Party 0.05 (3 minutes)...................... 70 3.50 145.00 507.50
Requester Power of Attorney
or Revocation of Power of
Attorney with a New Power
of Attorney and Change of
Correspondence Address.
6....................... Request for Withdrawal as 0.20 (12 minutes)..................... 4,000 800.00 438.00 350,400.00
Attorney or Agent and
Change of Correspondence
Address.
7....................... Authorization to Act in a 0.05 (3 minutes)...................... 750 37.50 145.00 5,437.50
Representative Capacity.
8....................... Petition Under 37 CFR 1.00 (60 minutes)..................... 10 10.00 438.00 4,380.00
1.36(a) to Revoke Power of
Attorney by Fewer than All
the Applicants.
9....................... Petition to Waive 37 CFR 1.00 (60 minutes)..................... 10 10.00 438.00 4,380.00
1.32(b)(4) and Grant Power
of Attorney by Fewer than
All the Applicants.
10...................... Change of Correspondence 0.05 (3 minutes)...................... 130,000 6,500.00 145.00 942,500.00
Address for Application or
Patent.
11...................... Patent Owner Change of 0.05 (3 minutes)...................... 25 1.25 145.00 18.25
Correspondence Address--
Reexamination Proceeding.
12...................... Third Party Requester Change 0.05 (3 minutes)...................... 40 2.00 145.00 290.00
of Correspondence Address--
Reexamination Proceeding.
13...................... Request for Customer Number 0.20 (12 minutes)..................... 1,600 320.00 145.00 46,400.00
Data Change.
14...................... Request for Customer Number. 0.20 (12 minutes)..................... 8,500 1,700.00 145.00 246,500.00
15...................... Customer Number Upload 1.50 (90 minutes)..................... 600 900.00 145.00 130,500.00
Spreadsheet.
16...................... Request to Update a PCT 0.25 (15 minutes)..................... 1,900 475.00 145.00 68,875.00
Application with a Customer
Number.
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Totals.............. ............................ ...................................... 501,905 28,479.25 ........... 4,369,751.25
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Estimated Total Annual Non-hour Respondent Cost Burden: $13,950.74.
There are no capital start-up, maintenance, or recordkeeping costs
associated with this information collection. However, this collection
does have annual (non-hour) cost burden in the form of filing fees and
postage costs.
Filing Fees
The two petitions in this collection have associated filing fees
under 37 CFR 1.17(f), resulting in $8,000 in filing fees.
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Estimated
IC No. Item annual Filing fee ($) Total non-hour
responses cost burden
(a) (b) (c) = (a) x
(b)
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8.......................... Petitions Under 37 CFR 1.36(a) to 10 400.00 $4,000.00
Revoke Power of Attorney by Fewer
than All the Applicants.
[[Page 48491]]
9.......................... Petitions to Waive 37 CFR 10 400.00 4,000.00
1.32(b)(4) and Grant Power of
Attorney by Fewer than All the
Applicants.
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Total.................. ................................... 20 .............. 8,000.00
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Postage Costs
Although the USPTO prefers that the items in this collection be
submitted electronically, responses may be submitted by mail through
the United States Postal Service (USPS). The USPTO estimates that 2% of
the 501,305 items will be submitted in the mail and that all 600 of the
customer number upload spreadsheets will be submitted by mail. The
existing first-class postage costs are $0.49 per submission. In
addition, the customer number uploaded spreadsheets are submitted to
the USPTO by mail, with a postage rate of $1.73 per submission.
There is a total of $5,950.74 in postage costs associated with this
collection.
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Total postage
Item Responses Postage cost costs
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Non-electronic Responses........................................ 10,026 0.49 4,912.74
Customer Number Upload Spreadsheets............................. 600 1.73 1,038.00
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Totals...................................................... 10,626 .............. 5,950.74
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Therefore, the USPTO estimates that the total annual (non-hour)
cost burden for this collection, in the forms of filing fees ($8,000)
and postage costs ($5,950.74), is $13,950.74 per year.
IV. Request for Comments
Comments submitted in response to this 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.
Comments are required 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 costs) 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.
Marcie Lovett,
Records and Information Governance Division Director, OCTO, United
States Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. 2017-22618 Filed 10-17-17; 8:45 am]
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