[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 199 (Tuesday, October 19, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Page 57812]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-22699]
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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; Patent Reexaminations, Supplemental Examinations, and Post
Patent Submissions
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 26, 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 Reexaminations, Supplemental Examinations, and Post
Patent Submissions.
OMB Control Number: 0651-0064.
Form Number(s):
PTO/SB/42 (Information Disclosure Citation in a Patent).
PTO/SB/57 (Request for Ex Parte Reexamination Transmittal
Form).
PTO/SB/59 (Request for Supplemental Examination
Transmittal Form).
Type of Review: Extension and revision of a currently approved
information collection.
Number of Respondents: 864 respondents per year.
Number of Responses: 880 responses per year.
Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that it takes the
public approximately between 30 minutes (0.5 hours) to 55 hours,
depending on the complexity of the situation and item, to gather the
necessary information, prepare the appropriate document(s), and submit
the information to the USPTO.
Estimated Total Annual Respondent Burden Hours: 23,574 hours.
Estimated Total Annual Non-Hour Cost Burden: $2,439,335.
Needs and Uses: This information collection covers information
contained in: (1) Requests for ex parte reexamination, (2) requests for
supplemental examination, (3) submissions made by patent owners and
third-party requesters related to the prosecution of an ex parte or
inter partes reexamination proceeding, (4) information submitted by the
public to aid in ascertaining the patentability and/or scope of the
claims of the issued patent, and (5) information submitted by patent
owners regarding a position taken before the USPTO or a Federal court
regarding the scope of any claim in their issued patent. The USPTO's
use of the statements of the patent owners ((5) above) will be limited
to determining the meaning of a patent claim in ex parte reexamination
proceedings that already have been ordered and in inter partes review
and post grant review proceedings that already have been instituted.
The purpose of this information collection is to facilitate
requests for ex parte reexamination and supplemental examination, to
facilitate prosecution of reexamination and reissue proceedings, and to
ensure that the associated documentation is submitted to the USPTO, and
to permit relevant post-patent prior art and claim scope information to
be entered into a patent file.
This renewal request incorporates an item that was previously
approved under OMB control number 0651-0067 (Post Patent Public
Submissions), specifically `information disclosure citations'. The
title of this information collection is being updated to reflect that
change with the inclusion of ``Post Patent Submissions''. As the
information disclosure citation was the only item contained in 0651-
0067, that information collection will be discontinued.
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 0651-0064.
Further information can be obtained by:
Email: [email protected]. Include ``0651-
0064 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. 2021-22699 Filed 10-18-21; 8:45 am]
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