[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 179 (Monday, September 16, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 75533-75534]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-20963]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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; Trademark Petitions

    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 10, 2024 during a 60-day comment period (89 FR 
56739). This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public 
comment.
    Agency: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Department of 
Commerce.
    Title: Trademark Petitions.
    OMB Control Number: 0651-0061.
    Needs and Uses: The United States Patent and Trademark Office 
(USPTO) administers the Trademark Act (Act), 15 U.S.C. 1051 et seq., 
which provides for the registration of trademarks, 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 covers various trademark-related 
communications to the USPTO, including letters of protest, requests to 
make special, responses to petition inquiry letters, petitions to make 
special, requests to restore a filing date, and requests for 
reinstatement. This information collection also incorporates petitions 
for ex parte expungement or reexamination (PTO-2312). Ex parte 
expungement and reexamination proceedings were established by the 
Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 (TMA), Public Law 116-260 (Dec. 27, 
2020), to cancel, either in whole or in part, registered marks for 
which the required use in commerce was not made. The burden estimate 
for petitions for ex parte expungement or reexamination was previously 
contained in OMB Control No. 0651-0086, Changes to Implement Provisions 
of the Trademark Modernization Act, but is being transferred into this 
information collection for efficiency. Finally, this information 
collection consolidates into a single burden estimate the burden for 
responses to petition inquiry letters (PTO-2305), which was previously 
reflected in both OMB Control No. 0651-0086 and this information 
collection.
    The information covered in this collection is used by the public 
for a variety of private business purposes related to establishing and 
enforcing trademark rights. Information relating to the registration of 
a trademark is made available to the public by the USPTO. However, the 
release of information in a letter of protest is controlled and may be 
available only upon request.
    Forms:

 PTO-2303 (Letter of Protest)
 PTO-2304 (Request to Make Special)
 PTO-2305 (Response to Petition to Director Inquiry Letter)
 PTO-2306 (Petition to Make Special)
 PTO-2307 (Request to Restore Filing Date)
 PTO-2308 (Request for Reinstatement)
 PTO-2312 (Petition for Expungement or Reexamination 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.
    Frequency: On occasion.
    Estimated Number of Annual Respondents: 5,813 respondents.
    Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 5,813 responses.
    Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that the responses 
in this information collection will take the public approximately 
between 40 minutes (0.67 hours) and 4.5 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: 7,893 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Non-hourly Cost Burden: $313,260.
    This information collection request may be viewed at 
www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view

[[Page 75534]]

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, 0651-0061.
    Further information can be obtained by:
     Email: [email protected]. Include ``0651-
0061 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. 2024-20963 Filed 9-13-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-16-P