[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 37 (Thursday, February 24, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Page 10343]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-03943]



[[Page 10343]]

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

United States Patent and Trademark Office


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; Patent Review and Derivation Proceedings

    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 December 7, 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 Review and Derivation Proceedings.
    OMB Control Number: 0651-0069.
    Needs and Uses: The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, which was 
enacted into law on September 16, 2011, provided for many changes to 
the procedures of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (``PTAB'' or 
``Board,'' formerly the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences) 
procedures. These changes included the introduction of inter partes 
review, post-grant review, derivation proceedings, and the transitional 
program for covered business method patents. Under these administrative 
trial proceedings, third parties may file a petition with the PTAB 
challenging the validity of issued patents, with each proceeding having 
different requirements regarding timing restrictions, grounds for 
challenging validity, and who may request review.
    Inter partes review is a trial proceeding conducted at the Board to 
review the patentability of one or more claims in a patent only on a 
ground that could be raised under Sec. Sec.  102 or 103, and only on 
the basis of prior art consisting of patents or printed publications. 
Post grant review is a trial proceeding conducted at the Board to 
review the patentability of one or more claims in a patent on any 
ground that could be raised under Sec.  282(b)(2) or (3). A derivation 
proceeding is a trial proceeding conducted at the Board to determine 
whether (1) an inventor named in an earlier application derived the 
claimed invention from an inventor named in the petitioner's 
application, and (2) the earlier application claiming such invention 
was filed without authorization. The transitional program for covered 
business method patents is a trial proceeding conducted at the Board to 
review the patentability of one or more claims in a covered business 
method patent. The covered business method program expired on September 
16, 2020 and the Board no longer accepts new petitions related to this 
program, but continues to accept papers in previously-instituted 
proceedings.
    This information collection covers information submitted by the 
public to petition the Board to initiate an inter partes review, post-
grant review, derivation proceeding, and the transitional program for 
covered business method patents, as well as any responses to such 
petitions, and the filing of any motions, replies, oppositions, and 
other actions, after a review/proceeding has been instituted.
    Form Numbers: None.
    Type of Review: Extension and revision of a currently approved 
information collection.
    Affected Public: Private sector; individuals or households.
    Respondent's Obligation: Required to obtain or retain benefits.
    Frequency: On occasion.
    Estimated Number of Annual Respondents: 9,238 respondents.
    Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 12,338 responses.
    Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that the responses 
in this information collection will take the public between 30 minutes 
(0.5 hours) and 165 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: 1,368,058 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Non-Hourly Cost Burden: 
$69,638,370.
    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 0651-0069.
    Further information can be obtained by:
     Email: [email protected]. Include ``0651-
0069 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. 2022-03943 Filed 2-23-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-16-P