[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 19 (Monday, January 30, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5862-5863]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-01749]
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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 and PTAB Pro Bono Programs
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 August 30, 2022 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 and PTAB Pro Bono Programs.
OMB Control Number: 0651-0082.
Needs and Uses: The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA), Public
Law 112-29 Sec. 32 (2011) directs the USPTO to work with and support
intellectual property law associations across the country in the
establishment of pro bono programs designed to assist financially
under-resourced independent inventors and small
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businesses. To support this, the USPTO--in collaboration with various
non-profit organizations--implemented the Patent Pro Bono program; a
series of autonomous regional programs that act as matchmakers to help
connect low-income inventors with volunteer patent attorneys across the
United States. The Patent Pro Bono program comprises a network of
regional programs organized by various bar associations, law school IP
clinics, and lawyer referral services that provide services across all
fifty states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
In 2022, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) began
coordinating pro bono opportunities through the newly created PTAB Pro
Bono Program, having supported the establishment of a national
clearinghouse that acts as a matchmaker to connect under-resourced
inventors with volunteer patent practitioners across the United States
for assistance in preparing and arguing ex parte appeals before the
PTAB. The PTAB Bar Association's national clearinghouse provides access
to legal representation for pro bono ex parte appeal services across
all fifty states and the District of Columbia.
Each pro bono program will be requesting that their respective
regional programs and a national clearinghouse collect demographic
information from those seeking assistance that will be self-identified
by the applicant. The requested standardized demographic information,
collected through Applicant Intake Forms, will be a voluntary part of
the overall application materials that each independent inventor fills
out when seeking pro bono assistance. The information collected will be
kept confidential by the regional programs and the national
clearinghouse and only aggregate information is shared with the USPTO.
This aggregate information, will also be used to help determine the
extent to which women, minorities, and veterans engage the Pro Bono
Programs supported by USPTO.
This renewal of 0651-0082 broadens the scope of the information
collection to include the PTAB Pro Bono Program, in addition to the
Patent Pro Bono Program that was covered under this collection. The
name of the information collection has been adjusted from ``Pro Bono
Survey'' to ``Patent and PTAB Pro Bono Programs'' in order to include
related programs under this single information collection. This
information collection includes an instrument capturing data for the
Patent Pro Bono program (Patent Pro Bono Survey) and its applicant
participations (Patent Applicant Intake Form). The information
collection also has a similar instrument that covers the collection of
data for the PTAB program (PTAB Pro Bono Survey) and the applicants
requesting to participate in that PTAB offering (PTAB Applicant Intake
Form).
Form Number(s):
USPTO/550 (Patent Pro Bono Survey)
USPTO/551 (Patent Applicant Intake Form)
USPTO/552 (PTAB Pro Bono Survey)
USPTO/553 (PTAB Applicant Intake Form)
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: 1,763 respondents.
Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 1,832 responses.
Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that the responses
in this information collection will take the public between
approximately 5 minutes (0.08 hours) and 2 hours to complete. This
includes the time to gather the necessary information, fill out the
item, and submit the completed request to the USPTO.
Estimated Total Annual Respondent Burden Hours: 332 hours.
Estimated Total Annual Respondent Non-Hourly Cost Burden: $1,333.
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 0651-0082.
Further information can be obtained by:
Email: [email protected]. Include ``0651-
0082 information request'' in the subject line of the message.
Postal mail: Justin Isaac, Office of the Chief
Administrative Officer, United States Patent and Trademark Office, P.O.
Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450.
Justin Isaac,
Information Collections Officer, Office of the Chief Administrative
Officer, United States Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. 2023-01749 Filed 1-27-23; 8:45 am]
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