[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 130 (Monday, July 8, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55927-55930]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-14917]
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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; Patent Reexaminations, Supplemental Examinations, and Post
Patent Submissions
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 and revision of an existing information collection: 0651-
0064 (Patent Reexaminations, Supplemental Examinations, and Post Patent
Submissions). 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 6, 2024.
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-
0064 comment'' in the subject line of the message.
Federal eRulemaking 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 Jeffrey West, Senior Legal Advisor, Office of
Patent Legal Administration, United States Patent and Trademark Office,
P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450; by telephone at 571-272-2226;
or by email at [email protected] with ``0651-0064 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 United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is required
by 35 U.S.C. 131 and 151 to examine applications and, when appropriate,
allow applications and issue them as patents. Chapter 30 of title 35
U.S.C. provides that any person at any time may file a request for
reexamination by the USPTO of any claim of a patent on the basis of
prior art cited under the provisions of 35 U.S.C. 301. Once initiated,
the reexamination proceedings under Chapter 30 are substantially ex
parte and do not permit input from third parties. The regulations
outlining ex parte reexaminations are found at 37 CFR 1.510-1.570. The
purpose of this information collection is to facilitate requests for ex
parte reexamination and supplemental examination, to facilitate
prosecution of reexamination and to ensure that the associated
documentation is submitted to the USPTO, and to permit relevant post-
patent prior art and claim scope information to be entered into a
patent file.
35 U.S.C. 257 permits a patent owner to request supplemental
examination of a patent by the USPTO to consider, reconsider, or
correct information believed to be relevant to the patent.
[[Page 55928]]
The regulations outlining supplemental examination are found at 37 CFR
1.601-1.625.
The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act terminated inter partes
reexamination effective September 16, 2012. However, inter partes
reexamination proceedings based on inter partes reexamination requests
filed before September 16, 2012, continue to be prosecuted. Therefore,
this collection continues to include items related to the prosecution
of inter partes reexamination proceedings. The regulations outlining
inter partes reexaminations are found at 37 CFR 1.902-1.959.
The provisions of 35 U.S.C. 301 and 37 CFR 1.501 govern the ability
of a person to submit into the file of an issued patent (1) prior art
consisting of patents or printed publications which the person making
the submission believes to have a bearing on the patentability of any
claim of the issued patent and (2) statements of the owner of the
issued patent filed in a proceeding before a Federal court or the USPTO
in which the owner of the issued patent took a position on the scope of
any claim of the issued patent.
Thus, the items included in this collection cover (1) requests for
ex parte reexamination, (2) requests for supplemental examination, (3)
information that may be submitted by patent owners and third-party
requesters in relation to the prosecution of an ex parte or inter
partes reexamination proceeding, (4) information submitted by the
public to aid in ascertaining the patentability and/or scope of the
claims of the issued patent, and (5) information submitted by patent
owners regarding a position taken before the USPTO or a Federal court
regarding the scope of any claim in their issued patent. The USPTO's
use of the statements of the patent owners ((5) above) will be limited
to determining the meaning of a patent claim in ex parte reexamination
proceedings that already have been ordered and in inter partes review
and post grant review proceedings that already have been instituted.
II. Method of Collection
The items in this information collection may be submitted
electronically, or on paper by either mail or hand delivery.
III. Data
OMB Control Number: 0651-0064.
Forms: (SB = Specimen Book)
PTO/SB/42 (37 CFR 1.501 Information Disclosure Citation in a
Patent)
PTO/SB/57 (Request for Ex Parte Reexamination Transmittal
Form)
PTO/SB/59 (Request for Supplemental Examination Transmittal
Form)
Type of Review: Extension and revision of a currently approved
information collection.
Affected Public: Private sector.
Respondent's Obligation: Required to obtain or retain benefits.
Estimated Number of Annual Respondents: 874 respondents.
Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 890 responses.
Frequency: On occasion.
Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that the responses
in this information collection will take the public approximately
between 30 minutes (0.50 hours) and 55 hours 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: 25,714 hours.
Estimated Total Annual Respondent Hourly Cost Burden: $11,494,158.
Table 1--Total Burden Hours and Hourly Costs to Private Sector Respondents
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Estimated
Estimated Responses per Estimated Estimated time Estimated Rate \1\ ($/ annual
Item No. Item annual respondent annual for response burden (hour/ hour) respondent
respondents responses (hours) year) cost burden
(a) (b) (a) x (b) = (d) (c) x (d) = (f) (e) x (f) =
(c) (e) (g)
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1................. Request for 30 1 30 25 750 $447 $335,250
Supplemental
Examination PTO/SB/
59.
2................. Request for Ex 332 1 332 55 18,260 447 8,162,220
Parte
Reexamination PTO/
SB/57.
3................. Petition in a 117 1 117 23 2,691 447 1,202,877
Reexamination
Proceeding (except
for those
specifically
enumerated in 37
CFR 1.550(i) and
1.937(d)).
4................. Patent Owner's 37 25 1 25 8 200 447 89,400
CFR 1.530
Statement.
5................. Third Party 15 1 15 8 120 447 53,640
Requester's 37 CFR
1.535 Reply.
6................. Amendment in Ex 15 1 15 33 495 447 221,265
Parte or Inter
Partes
Reexamination.
7................. Third Party 1 1 1 41 41 447 18,327
Requester's 37 CFR
1.947 Comments in
Inter Partes
Reexamination.
8................. Response to Final 148 1 148 17 2,516 447 1,124,652
Rejection in Ex
Parte
Reexamination.
9................. Patent Owner's 37 1 1 1 41 41 447 18,327
CFR 1.951 Comments
in Inter Partes
Reexamination.
10................ Third Party 1 1 1 41 41 447 18,327
Requester's 37 CFR
1.951 Response in
Inter Partes
Reexamination.
11................ Petition to Request 157 1 157 0.5 79 447 35,313
Extension of Time
in Ex Parte or
Inter Partes
Reexamination.
[[Page 55929]]
12................ 37 CFR 1.501 32 1.5 48 10 480 447 214,560
Information
Disclosure
Citation in a
Patent PTO/SB/42.
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Totals........ ................... 874 ............... 890 .............. 25,714 .............. 11,494,158
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\1\ 2023 Report of the Economic Survey, published by the Committee on Economics of Legal Practice of the American Intellectual Property Law Association
(AIPLA); pg. F-41. The USPTO uses the average billing rate for intellectual property work in all firms which is $447 per hour (https://www.aipla.org/home/news-publications/economic-survey).
Estimated Total Annual Respondent Non-hourly Cost Burden:
$3,680,879. There are no capital start-up, maintenance costs, or
recordkeeping costs associated with this information collection.
However, the USPTO estimates that the total annual non-hour cost burden
for this information collection, in the form of filing fees and
postage, is $3,680,879.
Filing Fees
There are filing fees associated with this information collection,
which are listed in the table below.
Table 2--Filing Fees
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Estimated Total non-hour
Item No. Fee Item annual Filing fee cost burden
code(s) responses ($) (yr) ($)
.............................. (a) (b) (a) x (b) =
(c)
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1............................ 1826 Request for supplemental 17 $4,620 $78,540
examination (undiscounted
entity).
1............................ 2826 Request for supplemental 12 1,848 22,176
examination (small entity).
1............................ 3826 Request for supplemental 1 924 924
examination (micro entity).
1............................ 1827 Reexamination ordered as a 10 12,700 127,000
result of supplemental
examination (undiscounted
entity).
1............................ 2827 Reexamination ordered as a 1 5,080 5,080
result of supplemental
examination (small entity).
1............................ 3827 Reexamination ordered as a 1 2,540 2,540
result of supplemental
examination (micro entity).
1............................ 1828 Supplemental examination 19 180 3,420
document size fee--for
nonpatent document having
between 21 and 50 sheets
(undiscounted entity).
1............................ 2828 Supplemental examination 12 72 864
document size fee--for
nonpatent document having
between 21 and 50 sheets
(small entity).
1............................ 3828 Supplemental examination 1 36 36
document size fee--for
nonpatent document having
between 21 and 50 sheets
(micro entity).
1............................ 1829 Supplemental examination 1 300 300
document size fee--for each
additional 50 sheets or a
fraction thereof in a
nonpatent document
(undiscounted entity).
1............................ 2829 Supplemental examination 3 120 360
document size fee--for each
additional 50 sheets or a
fraction thereof in a
nonpatent document (small
entity).
1............................ 3829 Supplemental examination 1 60 60
document size fee--for each
additional 50 sheets or a
fraction thereof in a
nonpatent document (micro
entity).
2............................ 1821 Each reexamination independent 112 480 53,760
claim in excess of three and
also in excess of the number
of such claims in the patent
under reexamination
(undiscounted entity).
2............................ 2821 Each reexamination independent 49 192 9,408
claim in excess of three and
also in excess of the number
of such claims in the patent
under reexamination (small
entity).
2............................ 3821 Each reexamination independent 1 96 96
claim in excess of three and
also in excess of the number
of such claims in the patent
under reexamination (micro
entity).
2............................ 1822 Each reexamination claim in 1,626 100 162,600
excess of 20 and also in
excess of the number of
claims in the patent under
reexamination (undiscounted
entity).
2............................ 2822 Each reexamination claim in 298 40 11,920
excess of 20 and also in
excess of the number of
claims in the patent under
reexamination (small entity).
2............................ 3822 Each reexamination claim in 1 20 20
excess of 20 and also in
excess of the number of
claims in the patent under
reexamination (micro entity).
2............................ 1831 Ex parte reexamination (Sec. 23 6,300 144,900
1.510(a)) streamlined
(undiscounted entity).
2............................ 2831 Ex parte reexamination (Sec. 67 2,520 168,840
1.510(a)) streamlined (small
entity).
2............................ 3831 Ex parte reexamination (Sec. 2 1,260 2,520
1.510(a)) streamlined (micro
entity).
2............................ 1812 Ex parte reexamination (Sec. 195 12,600 2,457,000
1.510(a)) non-streamlined
(undiscounted entity).
2............................ 2812 Ex parte reexamination (Sec. 45 5,040 226,800
1.510(a)) non-streamlined
(small entity).
2............................ 3812 Ex parte reexamination (Sec. 1 2,520 2,520
1.510(a)) non-streamlined
(micro entity).
[[Page 55930]]
3............................ 1824 Petitions in a reexamination 87 2,040 177,480
proceeding, except for those
specifically enumerated in 37
CFR 1.550(i) and 1.937(d)
(undiscounted entity).
3............................ 2824 Petitions in a reexamination 25 816 20,400
proceeding, except for those
specifically enumerated in 37
CFR 1.550(i) and 1.937(d)
(small entity).
3............................ 3824 Petitions in a reexamination 3 408 1,224
proceeding, except for those
specifically enumerated in 37
CFR 1.550(i) and 1.937(d)
(micro entity).
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Totals................... ....... .............................. 2,614 ........... 3,680,788
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Postage Costs
Although the USPTO prefers that the items in this information
collection be submitted electronically, responses may be submitted by
mail through the United States Postal Service (USPS). The USPTO
estimates that 1% of the 890 items will be submitted in the mail
resulting in 9 mailed items. The USPTO estimates that the average
postage cost for a mailed submission, using a Priority Mail legal flat
rate envelope, will be $10.15. Therefore, the USPTO estimates the total
mailing costs for this information collection at $91.
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. The 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, the
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. 2024-14917 Filed 7-5-24; 8:45 am]
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