[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 34 (Friday, February 18, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9326-9327]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-03513]


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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; Patents for Humanity 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 November 30, 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: Patents for Humanity Program.
    OMB Control Number: 0651-0066.
    Needs and Uses: Since 2012, the United States Patent and Trademark 
Office (USPTO) has conducted the Patents for Humanity Program, an 
annual award program to incentivize the distribution of patented 
technologies or products for the purpose of addressing humanitarian 
needs. The program is open to any patent owners or patent licensees, 
including inventors who have not assigned their ownership rights to 
others, assignees, and exclusive or non-exclusive licenses. USPTO 
collects information from applicants that describe what actions they 
have taken with their patented technology to address the welfare of 
impoverished populations, or how they furthered research by others on 
technologies for humanitarian purposes. There are numerous categories 
of awards including: Medicine, Nutrition, Sanitation, Household Energy, 
and Living Standards. Sometimes the program includes additional 
categories specific for that year, for example COVID-19. This 
information collection covers two application forms for the Patents for 
Humanity Program. The first application covers the humanitarian uses of 
technologies or products, and the second application covers 
humanitarian research. In both, applicants are required to describe how 
their technology or product satisfies the program criteria to address 
humanitarian issues. Additionally, applicants must provide non-public 
contact information in order for USPTO to notify them about their award 
status. Applicants may optionally provide contact information for the 
public to reach them with any inquiries. Applications must be submitted 
via email and will be posted on USPTO's website. Qualified judges from 
outside USPTO will review and score the applications. USPTO will then 
forward the top-scoring applications to reviewers from participating 
Federal agencies to recommend award recipients. Winners are invited to 
participate in an awards ceremony at USPTO. Those applications that are 
chosen for an award will receive a certificate redeemable to accelerate 
select matters before USPTO. The certificates can be redeemed to 
accelerate one of the following matters: An ex parte reexamination 
proceeding, including one appeal to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board 
(PTAB) from that proceeding; a patent application, including one appeal 
to the PTAB from that application; or an appeal to the PTAB of a claim 
twice rejected in a patent application or reissue application or 
finally rejected in an ex parte reexamination, without accelerating the 
underlying matter which generated the appeal. This information 
collection also covers the information gathered in petitions to extend 
an acceleration certificate redemption beyond 12 months. Finally, 
winners are now able to transfer their certificates to third parties, 
including by sale, due to the January 2021 passage of the Patents for 
Humanity Program Improvement Act.
    Form Numbers:

 PTO/PFH/001 (Patents for Humanity Competition: Humanitarian 
Use Application)
 PTO/PFH/002 (Patents for Humanity Competition: Research Use 
Application)
 PTO/SB/431 (Patents for Humanity Competition: Petition to 
Extend Redemption)

    Type of Review: Extension and revision of a currently approved 
information collection.
    Affected Public: Private sector; individuals or households; state, 
local, and tribal governments; and Federal government.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Frequency: On occasion.
    Estimated Number of Annual Respondents: 115 respondents.
    Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 115 responses.
    Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that the responses 
in this information collection will take the public 30 minutes to 4 
hours to complete. This includes the time to gather the necessary 
information, create the document, and submit the completed request to 
the USPTO.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Burden Hours: 428 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Non-Hourly Cost Burden: $0.
    This information collection request may be viewed at 
www.reginfo.gov.

[[Page 9327]]

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 0651-0066.
    Further information can be obtained by:
     Email: [email protected]. Include ``0651-
0066 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. 2022-03513 Filed 2-17-22; 8:45 am]
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