[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 189 (Tuesday, September 29, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Page 60980]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-21483]


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

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Patent and Trademark Office


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; Responses to Office Action and Voluntary Amendment Forms

    The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will submit 
the following information collection request to the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance in accordance with 
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, on or after the date of 
publication of this notice. The USPTO invites comment on this 
information collection renewal, which helps the USPTO assess the impact 
of its information collection requirements and minimize the public's 
reporting burden. Public comments were previously requested via the 
Federal Register on July 29, 2020 during a 60-day comment period. This 
notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.
    Agency: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Department of 
Commerce.
    Title: Responses to Office Action and Voluntary Amendment Forms.
    OMB Control Number: 0651-0050.
    Form Number(s):

 PTO-1957 (Response to Office Action)
 PTO-1960 (Request for Reconsideration After Final Office 
Action)
 PTO-1966 (Voluntary Amendment Not in Response to USPTO Office 
Action/Letter)
 PTO-1771 (Post-Approval/Publication/Post-Notice of Allowance 
(NOA) Amendment)
 PTO-1771 (Petition to Amend Basis Post-Publication)
 PTO-1822 (Response to Suspension Inquiry or Letter of 
Suspension)

    Type of Review: Extension and revision of a currently approved 
information collection.
    Number of Respondents: 393,657 respondents.
    Average Hours per Response: The USPTO estimates 393,665 responses 
and that it will take the public between 15 minutes to 40 minutes to 
complete this information collection, depending on the complexity of 
the submission. This includes the time to gather the necessary 
information, prepare the appropriate documents, and submit the 
completed items to the USPTO.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Burden Hours: 253,058 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Non-Hour Cost Burden: $101,223,200.
    Needs and Uses: This collection of information is required by the 
Trademark Act (Act), 15 U.S.C. 1051 et seq., which provides for the 
Federal registration of trademarks, service marks, collective trademark 
and service marks, collective membership marks, and certification 
marks. Individuals and businesses 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). 
The USPTO also administers the Trademark Act through Title 37 of the 
Code of Federal Regulations. These regulations allow the USPTO to 
request and receive information required to process applications and 
allows applicants to submit certain amendments to their applications. 
This information collection includes information that was not submitted 
with the initial application and is needed by the USPTO to review 
applications for trademark 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.
    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.
    Affected Public: Private Sector; individuals and households.
    Frequency: On occasion.
    Respondent's Obligation: Required to obtain or retain benefits.
    This information collection request may be viewed at 
www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view Department of 
Commerce, USPTO information collections currently under review by OMB.
    Written comments and recommendations for this information 
collection should be submitted within 30 days of the publication of 
this notice on the following website www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. 
Find this particular information collection by selecting ``Currently 
under 30-day Review--Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search 
function and entering either the title of the information collection or 
the OMB Control Number 0651-0050.
    Further information can be obtained by:
     Email: [email protected]. Include ``0651-
0050 information request'' in the subject line of the message.
     Mail: Kimberly Hardy, Office of the Chief Administrative 
Officer, United States Patent and Trademark Office, P.O. Box 1450, 
Alexandria, VA 22313-1450.

Kimberly Hardy,
Information Collections Officer, Office of the Chief Administrative 
Officer, United States Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. 2020-21483 Filed 9-28-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-16-P