[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 181 (Wednesday, September 18, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 76457-76458]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-21143]


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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; Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback 
on Agency Service Delivery

    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 June 17, 2024 during a 60-day comment period (89 FR 
51312). This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public 
comment.
    Agency: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Department of 
Commerce.
    Title: Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback 
on Agency Service Delivery.
    OMB Control Number: 0651-0080.
    Needs and Uses: Executive Order 12862 (Setting Customer Service 
Standards) directs Federal agencies to provide services to the public 
that matches or exceeds the best services available in the private 
sector.\1\ In order to work continuously to ensure that its programs 
are effective and meet its customers' needs, the United States Patent 
and Trademark Office (USPTO) uses this generic clearance to collect 
qualitative feedback on its service delivery. Qualitative feedback 
refers to information that provides useful insights on perceptions and 
opinions, but is not in the form of statistical surveys which yield 
quantitative results that can be generalized to the population of 
study.
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    \1\ https://www.archives.gov/files/federal-register/executive-orders/pdf/12862.pdf.
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    The USPTO collects, analyzes, and interprets the information 
gathered to identify strengths and weaknesses of current services. 
Based on feedback received, the USPTO will identify operational changes 
needed to improve programs and services. The solicitation of such 
feedback will target areas such as: timeliness, appropriateness, 
accuracy of information, courtesy, efficiency of service delivery, and 
resolution of issues with service delivery.
    Collecting this feedback provides the USPTO with information on 
customer satisfaction. This feedback provides for ongoing, 
collaborative, and actionable communication between the USPTO and its 
customers and stakeholders. Additionally, it allows the USPTO to gather 
feedback in an efficient and timely manner. The information collected 
from external customers and stakeholders ensures that users have an 
opportunity to convey their experience with USPTO programs. This 
information collection also provides insights into customer or 
stakeholder perceptions, experiences, and expectations, which allows 
the USPTO to focus its attention on areas where communication, 
training, or changes in operations may be necessary.
    This information collection covers a variety of methods used by 
USPTO to obtain qualitative feedback from the public. The estimated 
number of annual responses and burden hours being requested are based 
on the number of information collections the USPTO expects to conduct 
over the period of this clearance. Each specific request for clearance 
under this generic information collection includes estimates for the 
following information: respondent types, number of respondents, number 
of responses, time per response, burden hours, and associated costs.
    Forms: None.
    Type of Review: Extension and revision of a currently approved 
information collection.
    Affected Public: Individuals and households.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Frequency: On occasion.
    Estimated Number of Annual Respondents: 150,000 respondents.
    Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 150,000 responses.
    Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that the responses 
in this information collection will take the public approximately 10 
minutes (0.17 hours) to complete. This includes the time to gather the 
necessary information, create the document, and submit the completed 
item to the USPTO.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Burden Hours: 25,500 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, 0651-0080.
    Further information can be obtained by:
     Email: [email protected]. Include ``0651-
0080 information request'' in the subject line of the message.
     Mail: Justin Isaac, Office of the Chief Administrative 
Officer, United States Patent and Trademark Office,

[[Page 76458]]

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. 2024-21143 Filed 9-17-24; 8:45 am]
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