[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 142 (Wednesday, July 26, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48209-48211]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-15788]


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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; Global Intellectual Property Academy (GIPA) Surveys

AGENCY: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Department of 
Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of information collection; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), as 
required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, invites comments on 
the extension of an existing information collection: 0651-0065 Global 
Intellectual Property Academy (GIPA) Surveys. The purpose of this 
notice is to allow 60 days for public comment preceding submission of 
the information collection to OMB.

DATES: To ensure consideration, comments regarding this information 
collection must be received on or before September 25, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit written comments by 
any of the following methods. Do not submit Confidential Business 
Information or otherwise sensitive or protected information.
     Email: [email protected]. Include ``0651-
0065

[[Page 48210]]

comment'' in the subject line of the message.
     Federal Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
     Mail: Justin Isaac, Office of the Chief Administrative 
Officer, United States Patent and Trademark Office, P.O. Box 1450, 
Alexandria, VA 22313-1450.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Request for additional information 
should be directed to J. David Binstead, Program Manager, Global 
Intellectual Property Academy, United States Patent and Trademark 
Office, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450; by telephone at 571-
272-1500; or by email at [email protected] with ``0651-0065 
comment'' in the subject line. Additional information about this 
information collection is also available at http://www.reginfo.gov 
under ``Information Collection Review.''

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Abstract

    The Global Intellectual Property Academy (GIPA) was established in 
2006 to offer training programs on enforcement of intellectual property 
rights, patents, trademarks, and copyrights. GIPA's training programs 
are designed to meet the specific needs of foreign government officials 
concerning various intellectual property topics. By attending these 
programs, foreign government officials learn about global intellectual 
property rights protection and enforcement and discuss strategies to 
handle the protection and enforcement issues in their respective 
countries. The GIPA training programs are an important instrument that 
USPTO uses to achieve its objectives of halting intellectual property 
theft and advancing intellectual property right policies.
    The surveys in this information collection are conducted in an 
effort to provide additional details on ``who'' participants are, what 
kind of positions they hold, length of time working in an intellectual 
property area, type of organizations where respondents work, type of 
intellectual property functions, and the effect of the GIPA program on 
their professional work and their country's intellectual property 
efforts. This information is being collected to improve the services 
that the USPTO provides in its missions of serving the international IP 
community. The data captured will also be used to help meet 
organizational performance and accountability goals through the 
following legislative mandates and performance guidance:
     Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA); \1\
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    \1\ https://www.congress.gov/103/statute/STATUTE-107/STATUTE-107-Pg285.pdf.
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     Government Performance and Results Modernization Act of 
2010 (GPRMA); \2\
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    \2\ https://www.congress.gov/111/plaws/publ352/PLAW-111publ352.pdf.
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     President's Management Agenda (PMA); \3\ and
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    \3\ https://www.performance.gov/pma/.
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     Foundations for Evidence Based Policy Making Act of 
2018.\4\
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    \4\ https://www.congress.gov/115/plaws/publ435/PLAW-115publ435.pdf.
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    Evaluation and measurement efforts provide methodologically 
rigorous data activity and analyses in place of more subjective, ad 
hoc, non-standardized anecdotal material.
    These voluntary surveys support various business goals developed by 
the USPTO to fulfill customer service and performance goals, to assist 
the USPTO in strategic planning for future initiatives, to verify 
existing service standards, and to establish new ones. The USPTO also 
uses these surveys to implement Executive Order 12862 of September 11, 
1993, Setting Customer Service Standards, published in the Federal 
Register on September 14, 1993 (58 FR 48257).\5\ The USPTO does not 
intend to collect any personally identifying data from the participants 
and intends to maintain the contact information for the participants in 
a separate file for the quantitative data.
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    \5\ https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/fedreg/fr058/fr058176/fr058176.pdf.
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II. Method of Collection

    Items in this information collection may be submitted via online 
electronic submissions, and occasional in-person surveys.

III. Data

    OMB Control Number: 0651-0065.
    Forms: None.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved information 
collection.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Estimated Number of Annual Respondents: 750 respondents.
    Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 750 responses.
    Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that the responses 
in this information collection will take the public approximately 15 
minutes (0.25 hours) to complete. This includes the time to gather the 
necessary information, create the document, and submit the completed 
request to the USPTO.
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    \6\ USPTO uses the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupation 
Employment Statistics wage category 23-1021 (Administrative Law 
Judges: Federal Executive Branch) to represent an estimated wage of 
program attendees. USPTO estimates that the hourly wage will be in 
the 90th percentile, as respondents will likely be senior officials 
living in metropolitan areas; https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes231021.htm.
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    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Burden Hours: 188 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Hourly Cost Burden: $13,690.

                                   Table 1--Total Burden Hours and Hourly Costs to Individual or Household Respondents
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                                                                                                       Estimated    Estimated
                                                                Estimated    Responses    Estimated     time for      annual    Rate \6\ ($/  Estimated
         Item No.                          Item                   annual        per         annual      response      burden       hour)        annual
                                                               respondents   respondent   responses     (hours)       hours                     burden
                                                                       (a)          (b)  (a) x (b) =          (d)  (c) x (d) =          (f)  (e) x (f) =
                                                                                                 (c)                       (e)                       (g)
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1.........................  Overseas-Program Survey (or                225            1          225         0.25           56       $72.82       $4,078
                             equivalent).
2.........................  Post-Program Survey (or                    150            1          150         0.25           38        72.82        2,767
                             equivalent).
3.........................  Alumni Survey (or equivalent)....          375            1          375         0.25           94        72.82        6,845
                                                              ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                            Totals...........................          750  ...........          750  ...........          188  ...........       13,690
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[[Page 48211]]

    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Non-hourly Cost Burden: $0. There 
are no capital start-up, maintenance costs, recordkeeping costs, filing 
fees, or postage costs associated with this information collection.

IV. Request for Comments

    The USPTO is soliciting public comments to:
    (a) Evaluate whether the collection of information is necessary for 
the proper performance of the functions of the Agency, including 
whether the information will have practical utility;
    (b) Evaluate the accuracy of the Agency's estimate of the burden of 
the collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used;
    (c) Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to 
be collected; and
    (d) Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those 
who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated, 
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic 
submission of responses.
    All comments submitted in response to this notice are a matter of 
public record. USPTO will include or summarize each comment in the 
request to OMB to approve this information collection. Before including 
an address, phone number, email address, or other personally 
identifiable information (PII) in a comment, be aware that the entire 
comment--including PII--may be made publicly available at any time. 
While you may ask in your comment to withhold PII from public view, 
USPTO cannot guarantee that it will be able to do so.

Justin Isaac,
Information Collections Officer, Office of the Chief Administrative 
Officer, United States Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. 2023-15788 Filed 7-25-23; 8:45 am]
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