[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 120 (Friday, June 25, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Page 33686]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-13535]


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

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; Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) Program

    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 April 16, 2021 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: Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) Program.
    OMB Control Number: 0651-0058.
    Form Numbers:
     PTO/SB/20GLBL (Request for Participation in the Global/IP5 
PPH Pilot Program in the USPTO)
     PTO/SB/20BR (Request for Participation in the Patent 
Prosecution Highway (PPH) Pilot Program Between the Brazilian National 
Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) and the USPTO)
     PTO/SB/20CZ (Request for Participation in the Patent 
Prosecution Highway (PPH) Pilot Program Between the Industrial Property 
Office of the Czech Republic (IPOCZ) and the USPTO)
     PTO/SB/20MX (Request for Participation in the Patent 
Prosecution Highway (PPH) Pilot Program Between the Mexican Institute 
of Industrial Property (TMPI) and the USPTO)
     PTO/SB/20NI (Request for Participation in the Patent 
Prosecution Highway (PPH) Pilot Program Between the Nicaraguan Registry 
of Intellectual Property (NRIP) and the USPTO)
     PTO/SB/20PH (Request for Participation in the Patent 
Prosecution Highway (PPH) Pilot Program Between the Intellectual 
Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPH) and the USPTO)
     PTO/SB/20RO (Request for Participation in the Patent 
Prosecution Highway (PPH) Pilot Program Between the Romanian State 
Office of Inventions and Trademarks (OSIM) and the USPTO)
     PTO/SB/20SA (Request for Participation in the Patent 
Prosecution Highway (PPH) Pilot Program between the Saudi Authority for 
Intellectual Property of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (SAIP) and the 
USPTO)
     PTO/SB/20TW (Request for Participation in the Patent 
Prosecution Highway (PPH) Pilot Program Between the Taiwan Intellectual 
Property Office (TIPO) and the USPTO)
    Type of Review: Extension and revision of a currently approved 
information collection.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 3,567 respondents per year.
    Estimated Number of Responses: 7,090 responses per year.
    Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that it will take 
the public approximately 2 hours to complete a response. This includes 
the time to gather the necessary information, create the documents, and 
submit the completed item to the USPTO.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Burden Hours: 14,180 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Non-Hour Cost Burden: $0.
    Needs and Uses: The Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) is a framework 
in which an application whose claims have been determined to be 
patentable by an Office of Earlier Examination (OEE) is eligible to go 
through an accelerated examination in an Office of Later Examination 
(OLE) with a simple procedure upon an applicant's request. By 
leveraging the search and examination work product of the OEE, PPH 
programs (1) deliver lower prosecution costs, (2) support applicants in 
their efforts to obtain stable patent rights efficiently around the 
world, and (3) reduce the search and examination burden, while 
improving the examination quality, of participating patent offices.
    In 2014, the USPTO and several other offices acted to consolidate 
and replace existing PPH programs, with the goal of streamlining the 
PPH process for both offices and applicants. To that end, the USPTO and 
other offices established the Global PPH pilot program and the IP5 PPH 
pilot program. Both the Global PPH and the IP5 PPH pilot programs are 
running concurrently and are substantially identical, differing only 
with regard to their respective participating offices. The USPTO is 
participating in both the Global PPH pilot program and the IP5 PPH 
pilot program. For USPTO applications, the Global PPH and IP5 PPH pilot 
programs supersede any prior PPH program between the USPTO and each 
Global PPH and IP5 PPH participating office. Any existing PPH programs 
between the USPTO and offices that are not participating in either the 
Global PPH pilot program or the IP5 PPH pilot program remain in effect.
    This information collection covers data gathered through the 
Request for Participation in the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) Pilot 
Program, which the public uses to request an accelerated examination 
within the PPH provisions (35 U.S.C. 119).
    Affected Public: Private sector; individuals or 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 0651-0058.
    Further information can be obtained by:
     Email: [email protected]. Include ``0651-
0058 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. 2021-13535 Filed 6-24-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-16-P