[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 122 (Tuesday, June 29, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Page 34234]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-13809]


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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; Recording Assignments

    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: Recording Assignments.
    OMB Control Number: 0651-0027.
    Form Numbers:

 PTO-1594 (Trademark Assignment Recordation Cover Sheet)
 PTO-1595 (Patent Assignment Recordation Cover Sheet)

    Type of Review: Extension and revision of a currently approved 
information collection.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 649,880 respondents per year.
    Estimated Number of Responses: 649,880 responses per year.
    Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that it will take 
the public approximately 30 minutes (.5 hours) to gather the necessary 
information, create the document, and submit the completed item to the 
USPTO.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Burden Hours: 324,941 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Non-Hour Cost Burden: $3,968,075.
    Needs and Uses: This collection of information is required by 35 
U.S.C. 261 and 262 for patents and 15 U.S.C. 1057 and 1060 for 
trademarks. These statutes authorize the United States Patent and 
Trademark Office (USPTO) to record patent and trademark assignment 
documents, including transfers of properties (i.e., patents and 
trademarks), liens, licenses, assignments of interest, security 
interests, mergers, and explanations of transactions or other documents 
that record the transfer of ownership of a particular patent or 
trademark property from one party to another. Assignments are recorded 
for applications, patents, and trademark registrations.
    The USPTO administers these statutes through 37 CFR 2.146, 2.171, 
and 37 CFR 3. These regulations permit the public, corporations, other 
federal agencies, and Government-owned or Government-controlled 
corporations to submit patent and trademark assignment documents and 
other documents related to title transfers to the USPTO to be recorded. 
In accordance with 37 CFR 3.54, the recording of an assignment document 
by the USPTO is an administrative action and not a determination of the 
validity of the document or of the effect that the document has on the 
title to an application, patent, or trademark.
    In order to record an assignment document, the respondent must 
submit an appropriate cover sheet along with copies of the assignment 
document to be recorded. Once the assignment documents are recorded, 
they are available for public inspection. The public uses these records 
to conduct ownership and chain-of-title searches. The public may view 
these records either at the USPTO Public Search Facility or at the 
National Archives and Records Administration, depending on the date 
they were recorded. The public may also search patent and trademark 
assignment information online through the USPTO website. The only 
exceptions are those documents that are sealed under secrecy orders 
according to 37 CFR 3.58 or related to unpublished patent applications 
maintained in confidence under 35 U.S.C. 122 and 37 CFR 1.14.
    This information collection covers assignments submitted by paper 
and online through the use of the Electronic Patent Assignment System 
(EPAS) and the Electronic Trademark Assignment System (ETAS). The 
electronic systems allow customers to complete the required cover sheet 
information online using web-based forms and then attach the electronic 
assignment documents to be submitted for recordation. The electronic 
systems are available through the USPTO website at https://epas.uspto.gov/ and https://etas.uspto.gov/.
    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 0651-0027.
    Further information can be obtained by:
     Email: [email protected]. Include ``0651-
0027 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. 2021-13809 Filed 6-28-21; 8:45 am]
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