[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 186 (Wednesday, September 27, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66414-66415]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-21099]


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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; DOCX Submission Requirements

    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 comments 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 (88 FR 37039) on June 6, 2023 during a 60-day comment 
period. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public 
comment.
    Agency: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Department of 
Commerce.
    Title: DOCX Submission Requirements.
    OMB Control Number: 0651-New.
    Needs and Uses: On August 3, 2020, the USPTO published a final rule 
in the Federal Register that included a new fee set forth in 37 CFR 
1.16(u). See Setting and Adjusting Patent Fees in Fiscal Year 2020, 85 
FR 46932. Although that final rule indicated the new fee at Sec.  
1.16(u) would go into effect on January 1, 2022, the effective date of 
the new fee was delayed to give applicants more time to adjust to 
filing patent applications in the DOCX format.
    As specified in Sec.  1.16(u), the fee is due for any application 
filed under 35 U.S.C. 111 for an original patent--except design, plant, 
or provisional applications--where the specification, claims, and/or 
abstract do not conform to the USPTO requirements for submission in the 
DOCX format. Therefore, the fee is due for nonprovisional utility 
applications filed under 35 U.S.C. 111, including continuing 
applications, that are not filed in the DOCX format.
    The USPTO conducted two pilot programs for filing applications in 
the DOCX format. The eMod Text Pilot Program was conducted between 
August 2016 and September 2017. The USPTO then expanded the ability to 
file patent applications in the DOCX format in EFS-Web to all users in 
September 2017. In 2018, the USPTO launched the Patent Center and 
conducted the Patent Center Text Pilot Program from June 2018 through 
April 2020. All applicants have been able to file applications in the 
DOCX format in the Patent Center since April 2020. Information about 
the Patent Center is available at www.uspto.gov/PatentCenter. The USPTO 
continues to hold many discussions and training sessions with 
stakeholders to ensure a fair and reasonable transition to the DOCX 
format. In addition, to further ensure a fair and reasonable transition 
to the DOCX format, the USPTO has, since April 2022, provided patent 
applicants with the option to submit a back-up applicant-generated PDF 
version of the application along with the DOCX file(s) when filing an 
application in Patent Center. See Extension of the Option for 
Submission of a PDF With a Patent Application Filed in DOCX Format, 88 
FR 37036 (Jun. 6, 2023).
    The items in this new information collection relate solely to the 
impacts of the Sec.  1.16(u) non-DOCX filing surcharge fee on the 
filing of nonprovisional utility applications under 35 U.S.C. 111, 
including continuing applications. In particular, this new information 
collection accounts for the Sec.  1.16(u) non-DOCX filing surcharge fee 
itself, as well as an additional 30 minutes of time to accommodate (i) 
the extra review that some respondents may undertake as they start to 
become more familiar with the DOCX format and (ii) submission of the 
back-up applicant-generated PDF that some respondents will opt to 
submit.
    The estimated volumes for the items in this new information 
collection are based on the estimates for the corresponding 
nonprovisional utility applications filed under 35 U.S.C. 111, 
including continuing applications, that are covered under an existing 
OMB clearance (0651-0032; Initial Patent Applications). Respondents for 
the items in the new information collection will either take an extra 
30 minutes to file their applications in DOCX format or they will pay 
the non-DOCX surcharge, they will not do both.
    Form Numbers: None.
    Type of Review: New.

[[Page 66415]]

    Affected Public: Private sector; individuals and households.
    Respondent's Obligation: Required to obtain or retain a benefit.
    Frequency: On occasion.
    Estimated Number of Annual Respondents: 411,817 respondents 
(including 164,066 respondents from filing fees).
    Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 411,817 responses (including 
164,066 responses from filing fees).
    Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that the responses 
in this information collection will take the public approximately 30 
minutes (0.50 hours) to complete. This includes the time to create and 
submit the completed filing to the USPTO. The USPTO provides the 30-
minute estimate out of an abundance of caution for the initial period 
after the effective date of the non-DOCX filing surcharge fee. The 
USPTO expects to decrease the 30-minute estimate by the first renewal 
of this collection as the public more fully comprehends the nature of, 
and how to comply with, the DOCX format.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Burden Hours: 123,877 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Non-Hourly Cost Burden: 
$49,588,160.
    This information collection 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 feature and entering the title of the information collection 
of the OMB Control Number, 0651-New.
    Further information can be obtained by:
     Email: [email protected]. Include ``0651-New 
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. 2023-21099 Filed 9-26-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-16-P