[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 105 (Thursday, June 1, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35843-35844]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-11710]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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; Native American Tribal Insignia Database
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 March 8, 2023 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: Native American Tribal Insignia Database.
OMB Control Number: 0651-0048.
Needs and Uses: The Trademark Law Treaty Implementation Act of 1998
\1\ (Pub. L. 105-330, 302, 112 Stat. 3071) required the USPTO to study
issues surrounding the protection of the official insignia of federally
and state-recognized Native American tribes under trademark law. The
USPTO conducted the study and presented a report to the House and
Senate Judiciary Committees on November 30, 1999. One of the
recommendations made in the report was that the USPTO create and
maintain an accurate and comprehensive database containing the official
insignia of all federally and state-recognized Native American tribes.
In accordance with this recommendation, the Senate Committee on
Appropriations directed the USPTO to create this database. The USPTO
published the final procedures for establishing and maintaining the
tribal insignia database in the Federal Register on August 24, 2001 (66
FR 44603).\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ https://www.uspto.gov/trademark/laws-regulations/trademark-law-treaty-implementation-act.
\2\ https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2001/08/24/01-21479/establishment-of-a-database-containing-the-official-insignia-of-federally-and-state-recognized.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The USPTO database of official tribal insignias provides evidence
of what a federally or state-recognized Native American tribe considers
to be its official insignia. Section 2(a) of the Trademark Act, 15
U.S.C. 1052(a), disallows the registration of marks that falsely
suggest a connection with a non-sponsoring person or institution,
including a Native American tribe. The database thereby assists
trademark examining attorneys in their examination of applications for
trademark registration by serving as a reference for determining the
registrability of a mark that may falsely suggest a connection to the
official insignia of a Native American tribe. The database, included
within Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS),\3\ is available to
the public on the USPTO website, and includes an online help program
for using the system. More information about the program is available
on the website at https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/laws/native-american-tribal-insignia.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks-application-process/search-trademark-database.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tribes are not required to request that their official insignia be
included in the database. The entry of an official insignia into the
database does not confer any rights to the tribe that submitted the
insignia, and entry is not the legal equivalent of registering the
insignia as a trademark under 15 U.S.C. 1051 et seq. The inclusion of
an official tribal insignia in the database does not create any legal
presumption of validity or priority, does not carry any of the benefits
of federal trademark registration, and is not a determination as to
whether a particular insignia would be allowed or refused registration
[[Page 35844]]
as a trademark pursuant to 15 U.S.C. 1051 et seq.
Requests from federally recognized tribes to enter an official
insignia into the database must be submitted in writing and include:
(1) a depiction of the insignia, including the name of the tribe and
the address for correspondence; (2) a copy of the tribal resolution
adopting the insignia in question as the official insignia of the
tribe; and (3) a statement, signed by an official with authority to
bind the tribe, confirming that the insignia included with the request
is identical to the official insignia adopted by the tribal resolution.
Requests from state-recognized tribes must also be in writing and
include each of the three items described above that are submitted by
federally recognized tribes. Additionally, requests from state-
recognized tribes must include either: (a) a document issued by a state
official that evidences the state's determination that the entity is a
Native American tribe; or (b) a citation to a state statute designating
the entity as a Native American tribe.
The USPTO enters insignia that have been properly submitted by
federally or state-recognized Native American tribes into the database
and does not investigate whether the insignia is actually the official
insignia of the tribe making the request.
This information collection includes the information needed by the
USPTO to enter an official insignia for a federally or state-recognized
Native American tribe into a database of such insignia. No forms are
associated with this information collection.
Forms: None.
Type of Review: Extension and revision of a currently approved
information collection.
Affected Public: State, Local, and Tribal Governments.
Respondent's Obligation: Required to obtain or retain benefits.
Frequency: On occasion.
Estimated Number of Annual Respondents: 5 respondents.
Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 5 responses.
Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that the responses
in this information collection will take respondents approximately 1
hour 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: 5 hours.
Estimated Total Annual Respondent Non-Hourly Cost Burden: $19.
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 0651-0048.
Further information can be obtained by:
Email: [email protected]. Include ``0651-
0048 information request'' in the subject line of the message.
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. 2023-11710 Filed 5-31-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-16-P