[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 163 (Thursday, August 24, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57941-57942]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-18160]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Institute of Standards and Technology


Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment Request; 
iEdison System

    The Department of Commerce 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. We invite the 
general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and 
continuing information collections, which helps us assess the impact of 
our information collection requirements and minimize the public's 
reporting burden. Public comments were previously requested via the 
Federal Register on May 4, 2023 date during a 60-day comment period. 
This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.
    Agency: National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), 
Commerce.
    Title: iEdison System.
    OMB Control Number 0693-0090.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Request: Regular, Revision of an Existing Collection.
    Number of Respondents: 3,063.
    Average Hours per Response:
    Invention Records: 1.25 (approximately 5 times per year).
    Patent Records: .75 hours (approximately 5 times per year).
    Utilization Records: 25 minutes (approximately 30 times per year).

[[Page 57942]]

    Burden Hours:
    Invention Records: 19,144 hours.
    Patent Records: 11,486 hours.
    Utilization Records: 38,288 hours.
    Needs and Uses: The Bayh-Dole Act (35 U.S.C. 18) and its 
implementing regulations (37 CFR 401) allow for recipients of Federal 
research funding (Contractors) to retain ownership of inventions 
developed under Federal funding agreements. In exchange, the government 
retains certain rights to the invention, including a world-wide right 
to use by or on behalf of the U.S. government. The law also requires 
the Contractor to obtain permission for certain actions and fulfill 
reporting requirements including:
    a. Initial reporting of invention.
    b. Decision to retain title to invention.
    c. Filing of patent protection.
    d. Evidence of government support clause within patents.
    e. Submission of a license confirming the government's rights.
    f. Notice if the Contractor is going to discontinue the pursuit or 
continuance of patent protection.
    g. Information related to the development and utilization of 
invention.
    h. Permission to assign to a third party; and
    i. Permission to waive domestic manufacturing requirements.
    This information is used for a variety of reasons. It allows the 
government to identify technologies to which the government has rights 
to use without additional payment or licensing. This acts as a time and 
cost-saving mechanism to avoid unnecessary negotiating and payment. It 
also provides data for calculation of return on investment (ROI) from 
Federal funding and identifies successful research programs. Thirdly, 
it allows the government the opportunity to timely protect inventions 
which the Contractor declines title or discontinues patent protection. 
Many agencies utilize the iEdison system, managed by NIST, to collect 
this information. Agencies that do not register with iEdison are 
required to collect this information independently.
    Historically, only NIH and DOE regularly requested that Contractors 
submit requests for reports on the development and utilization of an 
invention (utilization reports) within iEdison. However, there has been 
an increased interest across the government in the impact of federally 
funded research and resulting inventions as well as compliance with the 
Bayh-Dole requirements, especially as it relates to domestic 
manufacturing requirements. As a result, the interagency working group 
for Bayh-Dole decided that all agencies would begin to request this 
information, and the questions would be amended and expanded upon so 
that the agencies could get a clear picture of the commercialization 
plans for subject inventions, what the licensing landscape looked like, 
what products were resulting, and where those products were being 
manufactured.
    Another data point of particular interest across government relates 
to gender, and specifically how gender disparity may be present within 
the inventing and commercialization space. Collecting gender of the 
inventors within iEdison provides agencies previously unavailable data 
that they may use to conduct assessments under administrative policy 
guidance outlined in Executive Order 13985. NIST does not anticipate 
that the collection of this data will significantly affect the 
reporting burden.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations; Not-
for-profit institutions.
    Frequency: On occasion.
    Respondent's Obligation: Required to obtain benefits.
    Legal Authority: The Bayh-Dole Act (35 U.S.C. 18) and its 
implementing regulations (37 CFR 401); 35 U.S.C. 200-212.
    This information collection request may be viewed at 
www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view the Department of 
Commerce collections currently under review by OMB.
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed 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 the title of the collection.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Under Secretary of 
Economic Affairs, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2023-18160 Filed 8-23-23; 8:45 am]
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