[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 58 (Friday, March 25, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Page 17074]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-06321]


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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; International Work Sharing 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 December 14, 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: International Work Sharing Program.
    OMB Control Number: 0651-0079.
    Needs and Uses: The United States Patent and Trademark Office 
(USPTO) established a Work Sharing Pilot Program in conjunction with 
the Japan Patent Office (JPO) and the Korean Intellectual Property 
Office (KIPO) to study how the exchange of search results between 
offices for corresponding counterpart applications improves patent 
quality and facilitates the examination of patent applications in both 
offices. Under this Work Sharing Pilot Program, two Collaborative 
Search Pilot (CSP) programs--USPTO-JPO and USPTO-KIPO--have been 
implemented.
    Through their respective CSP(s), each office concurrently conducts 
searches on corresponding counterpart applications. The exchange of 
information and documents between IP offices benefits applicants by 
promoting compact prosecution, reducing pendency, and supporting patent 
quality by reducing the likelihood of inconsistencies in patentability 
determinations among IP offices when considering corresponding 
counterpart applications. The gains in efficiency and quality are 
achieved through a collaborative work sharing approach to the 
evaluation of patent claims. As a result of this exchange of search 
reports, the examiners in both offices may have a more comprehensive 
set of references before them when making an initial patentability 
determination.
    This information collection is comprised of four items: The 
Petition to Make Special Under the Expanded Collaborative Search Pilot 
Program; Petition for Participation in the CSP Program Between the JPO 
and the USPTO; the Petition for Participation in the CSP Program 
Between the KIPO and the USPTO; and the CSP Survey. The Petitions to 
Make Special and for Participation are used by patent applicants to 
request participation in the CSP Program. The CSP Survey is used to 
collect feedback on the program's value, monitor usage of the program, 
and to measure the benefits the program provides to participants.
    Forms:

 PTO/437 (Petition to Make Special Under the Expanded 
Collaborative Search Pilot Program)
 PTO/437-JP (Petition for Participation in the Collaborative 
Search Pilot (CSP) Program Between the Japan Patent Office (JPO) and 
the USPTO)
 PTO/437-KR (Petition for Participation in the Collaborative 
Search Pilot (CSP) Program Between the Korean Intellectual Property 
Office (KIPO) and the USPTO)
 PTO/461 (Collaborative Search Pilot Program Survey)

    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: 96 respondents.
    Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 190 responses.
    Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that the responses 
in this information collection will take the public approximately 
between 5 minutes (0.08 hours) and 3 hours (240 minutes) 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: 445 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Non-Hourly Cost Burden: $0.
    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 0651-0079.
    Further information can be obtained by:
     Email: [email protected]. Include ``0651-
0079 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. 2022-06321 Filed 3-24-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-16-P