[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 139 (Friday, July 19, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58722-58723]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-15933]


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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 Prosecution Highway (PPH) Program

    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 May 14, 2024 during a 60-day comment period (89 FR 
41948). This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public 
comment.
    Agency: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Department of 
Commerce.
    Title: Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) Program.
    OMB Control Number: 0651-0058.
    Needs and Uses: The Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) is a framework 
in which an application whose claims have been determined to be 
patentable by the Office of Earlier Examination (OEE) is eligible to go 
through an accelerated examination in an Office of Later Examination 
(OLE) with a simple procedure upon an applicant's request. By 
leveraging the search and examination work product of the OEE, PPH 
programs (1) deliver lower prosecution costs, (2) support applicants in 
their efforts to obtain stable patent rights efficiently around the 
world, and (3) reduce the search and examination burden, while 
improving the examination quality, of participating patent offices.
    Initially, the PPH programs were limited to the utilization of 
search and examination results of national applications between cross 
filings under the Paris Convention. Later, the potential of the PPH was 
greatly expanded by the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT)-PPH programs, 
which permit participating patent offices to draw upon the positive 
results of the PCT work product from another participating office. PCT-
PPH programs use international written opinions and international 
preliminary examination reports developed within the framework of the 
PCT, thereby making the PPH available to a larger number of applicants. 
Information collected for the PCT is approved under the USPTO 
information collection 0651-0021 (Patent Cooperation Treaty).
    More recently, the USPTO and several other offices acted to 
consolidate and replace existing PPH programs, with the goal of 
streamlining the PPH process for both offices and applicants. To that 
end, the USPTO and other offices established the Global PPH pilot 
program and the IP5 PPH pilot program. Both the Global PPH and IP5 PPH 
pilot programs are running concurrently and are substantially 
identical, differing only with regard to their respective participating 
offices. The USPTO participates in both the Global PPH pilot program 
and the IP5 PPH pilot program. For USPTO applications, the Global PPH 
and IP5 PPH pilot programs

[[Page 58723]]

supersede any prior PPH program between the USPTO and each Global PPH 
and IP5 PPH participating office. Any existing PPH programs between the 
USPTO and offices that are not participating in either the Global PPH 
pilot program or the IP5 PPH pilot program remain in effect.
    This information collection covers data gathered through the 
Request for Participation in the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) Pilot 
Program, which the public uses to request an accelerated examination 
within the PPH provisions.
    The USPTO makes one change to the information published in the 60-
Day Federal Register Notice to add a new item, form PTO/SB/20BH 
(Request for Participation in the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) 
Pilot Program Between the National Patent Office of Bahrain (NPOB) and 
the USPTO), due to the USPTO's decision to implement a PPH pilot 
program with the NPOB. The addition of this item results in an increase 
of 1 respondent, 1 response, and 2 hours to the estimated annual burden 
of this information collection.
    Forms: (SB = Specimen Book)

 PTO/SB/20BH (Request for Participation in the Patent 
Prosecution Highway (PPH) Pilot Program Between the National Patent 
Office of Bahrain (NPOB) and the USPTO)
 PTO/SB/20BR (Request for Participation in the Patent 
Prosecution Highway (PPH) Pilot Program Between the Brazilian National 
Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) and the USPTO)
 PTO/SB/20CZ (Request for Participation in the Patent 
Prosecution Highway (PPH) Pilot Program Between the Industrial Property 
Office of the Czech Republic (IPOCZ) and the USPTO)
 PTO/SB/20FR (Request for Participation in the Patent 
Prosecution Highway (PPH) Pilot Program Between the National Institute 
of Industrial Property of France (INPI) and the USPTO)
 PTO/SB/20GLBL (Request for Participation in the Global/IP5 
Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) Pilot Program in the USPTO)
 PTO/SB/20MA (Request for Participation in the Patent 
Prosecution Highway (PPH) Pilot Program Between the Moroccan Office of 
Industrial and Commercial Property (OMPIC) and the USPTO)
 PTO/SB/20MX (Request for Participation in the Patent 
Prosecution Highway (PPH) Pilot Program Between the Mexican Institute 
of Industrial Property (IMPI) and the USPTO)
 PTO/SB/20MY (Request for Participation in the Patent 
Prosecution Highway (PPH) Pilot Program Between the Intellectual 
Property Corporation of Malaysia (MYIPO) and the USPTO)
 PTO/SB/20NI (Request for Participation in the Patent 
Prosecution Highway (PPH) Pilot Program Between the Nicaraguan Registry 
of Intellectual Property (NRIP) and the USPTO)
 PTO/SB/20PH (Request for Participation in the Patent 
Prosecution Highway (PPH) Pilot Program Between the Intellectual 
Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPH) and the USPTO)
 PTO/SB/20RO (Request for Participation in the Patent 
Prosecution Highway (PPH) Pilot Program Between the Romanian State 
Office for Inventions and Trademarks (OSIM) and the USPTO)
 PTO/SB/20SA (Request for Participation in the Patent 
Prosecution Highway (PPH) Pilot Program Between the Saudi Authority for 
Intellectual Property of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (SAIP) and the 
USPTO)
 PTO/SB/20TW (Request for Participation in the Patent 
Prosecution Highway (PPH) Pilot Program Between the Taiwan Intellectual 
Property Office (TIPO) and the USPTO)

    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.
    Frequency: On occasion.
    Estimated Number of Annual Respondents: 8,586 respondents.
    Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 8,586 responses.
    Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that the responses 
in this information collection will take the public approximately 2 
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: 17,172 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Non-Hourly Cost Burden: $0.
    This information collection request 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 function and entering either the title of the information 
collection or the OMB Control Number, 0651-0058.
    Further information can be obtained by:
     Email: [email protected]. Include ``0651-
0058 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.

Lisa Lawn,
Director, Records and Information Compliance Program Office, Office of 
the Chief Administrative Officer, United States Patent and Trademark 
Office.
[FR Doc. 2024-15933 Filed 7-18-24; 8:45 am]
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