[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 188 (Friday, September 29, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67256-67257]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-21539]


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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; Response to Office Action and Voluntary Amendment Forms

    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 on July 11, 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: Response to Office Action and Voluntary Amendment Forms.
    OMB Control Number: 0651-0050.
    Needs and Uses: This collection of information is required by the 
Trademark Act (Act), 15 U.S.C. 1051 et seq., which provides for the 
registration of trademarks, service marks, collective trademark and 
service marks, collective membership marks, and certification marks. 
Individuals and businesses that use or intend to use such marks in 
commerce may file an application to register their marks with the 
USPTO. This information collection generally contains information that 
is not submitted with the initial trademark application but is 
associated with, or required for, the USPTO's review of applications 
for registration.
    In some cases, the USPTO issues Office Actions to applicants who 
have applied to register a mark, requesting information that was not 
provided with the initial submission, but is required before the 
issuance of a registration.

[[Page 67257]]

Also, the USPTO may determine that a mark is not entitled to 
registration, pursuant to one or more provisions of the Act. In such 
cases, the USPTO will issue an Office Action advising the applicant of 
the refusal to register the mark. Applicants reply to these Office 
Actions by providing the required information and/or by putting forth 
legal arguments as to why the refusal of registration should be 
withdrawn.
    The USPTO administers the Act through title 37 of the Code of 
Federal Regulations. These rules allow the USPTO to request and receive 
information required to process applications. These rules also allow 
applicants to submit certain amendments to their applications.
    Applicants may also supplement their applications and provide 
further information by filing a Voluntary Amendment Not in Response to 
USPTO Office Action/Letter, a Request for Reconsideration after Final 
Office Action, a Post-Approval/Publication/Post-Notice of Allowance 
(NOA) Amendment, a Petition to Amend Basis Post-Publication, or a 
Response to Suspension Inquiry or Letter of Suspension.
    The 60-Day Federal Register notice was published with the form 
numbers associated with this information collection inadvertently left 
off. In this notice, the USPTO has included the form numbers associated 
with this information collection.

Form Numbers

 PTO-1771 (Post-Approval/Publication/Post-Notice of Allowance 
(NOA) Amendment)
 PTO-1772 (Petition to Amend Basis Post-Publication)
 PTO-1822 (Response to Suspension Inquiry or Letter of 
Suspension)
 PTO-1957 (Response to Office Action)
 PTO-1960 (Request for Reconsideration After Final Office 
Action)
 PTO-1966 (Voluntary Amendment Not in Response to USPTO Office 
Action/Letter)
    Type of Review: Extension and revision of a currently approved 
information collection.
    Affected Public: Private sector.
    Respondent's Obligation: Required to obtain or retain a benefit.
    Frequency: On occasion.
    Estimated Number of Annual Respondents: 518,643 respondents.
    Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 518,643 responses.
    Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that the responses 
in this information collection will take the public approximately 
between 25 minutes (0.42 hours) and 50 minutes (0.83 hours) to 
complete. This includes the time to gather the necessary information, 
create the document, and submit the complete request to the USPTO.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Burden Hours: 420,113 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Non-Hourly Cost Burden: $699,101.
    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, 0651-0050.
    Further information can be obtained by:
     Email: [email protected]. Include ``0651-
0050 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. 2023-21539 Filed 9-28-23; 8:45 am]
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