[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 69 (Friday, April 11, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15454-15455]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-06166]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Patent and Trademark Office
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the
Office of Management and Budget for Review and Approval; Comment
Request; Patents for Humanity Program and Trademarks for Humanity
Program
AGENCY: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Department of
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of information collection; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: 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 the
information collection renewal of 0651-0066 (Patents for Humanity
Program and Trademarks for Humanity Program), which helps the USPTO
assess the impact of its information collection requirements and
minimize the reporting burden on the public. Public comments were
previously requested via the Federal Register on October 25, 2024,
during a 60-day comment period (89 FR 85171). This notice allows for an
additional 30 days for public comments.
DATES: To ensure consideration, you must submit comments regarding this
information collection on or before May 12, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for this information
collection should be submitted within 30 days of the publication of
this notice on the following website, https://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, 0651-0066. Do not submit
Confidential Business Information or otherwise sensitive or protected
information.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: This information collection request
may be viewed at https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Follow the
instructions to view the Department of Commerce, USPTO information
collections currently under review by OMB.
Email: [email protected]. Include ``0651-
0066 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.
Telephone: Soma Saha, Patent Attorney, 571-272-9300.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: Patents for Humanity Program and Trademarks for Humanity
Program.
OMB Control Number: 0651-0066.
Abstract: Since 2012, the United States Patent and Trademark Office
(USPTO) has conducted the Patents for Humanity Program,\1\ a biennial
award program to incentivize the distribution of patented technologies
or products for the purpose of addressing humanitarian needs. The
program is open to any U.S. patent owners, patent applicants, or patent
licensees or licensors. The USPTO collects information from applicants
that describe what actions they have taken with their technology to
address the world's most pressing humanitarian problems. There are
numerous categories of awards including: medicine, nutrition,
sanitation, household energy, and living standards. Sometimes the
program includes additional categories specific for that year.
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\1\ Patents for Humanity web page: www.uspto.gov/ip-policy/patent-policy/patents-humanity.
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The Patents for Humanity Program provides winners with recognition
and an acceleration certificate for one future patent matter. The
applications that are chosen for an award will receive a certificate
redeemable to accelerate select matters before the USPTO. The
certificates can be redeemed to accelerate one of the following
matters:
an ex parte reexamination proceeding, including one appeal
to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) from that proceeding;
a patent application, including one appeal to the PTAB
from that application;
or an appeal to the PTAB of a claim twice rejected in a
patent application or reissue application or finally rejected in an ex
parte reexamination, without accelerating the underlying matter which
generated the appeal.
The Patents for Humanity Act of 2022 codified the Patents for
Humanity program to be a permanent program at the USPTO that will run
biennially. Finally, due to the January 2021 passage of the Patents for
Humanity Program Improvement Act, winners of the Patents for Humanity
Program are now able to transfer their certificates to third parties,
including by sale.
In 2023, the USPTO added the Trademarks for Humanity Program \2\ to
promote and incentivize brand owners who offer products and services
that help address humanitarian issues utilizing a federally registered
trademark. Applicants are required to describe how their mark and their
goods or services satisfy the program criteria to address humanitarian
issues. The Trademarks for Humanity Program is held occasionally, with
no set frequency, and can have a variety of topics depending upon the
year. Trademarks for Humanity awards focus on recognition and do not
confer awards certificates like the Patents for Humanity Program.
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\2\ Trademarks for Humanity web page: www.uspto.gov/ip-policy/trademark-policy/trademarks-humanity.
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Applications may be submitted via an online portal, accessible from
the Patents for Humanity and Trademarks for Humanity main web pages.
Applicants for both programs must provide contact information for the
USPTO to notify them regarding their award status. A panel of
independent judges evaluate the applications and send the top-scoring
ones to reviewers from participating federal agencies to recommend
award recipients. Awards are public and recipients receive recognition
for their humanitarian efforts from the USPTO and executive branch
leadership. Winners of both the Patents for Humanity Program and the
Trademarks for Humanity Program are invited to participate in an awards
ceremony.
This information collection covers the two application forms for
the Patents for Humanity Program and the single application form for
the Trademarks for Humanity Program. This information collection also
covers the information gathered in the Patents for Humanity
certification and request to redeem an acceleration certificate, the
petition to extend an acceleration certificate redemption beyond 12
months, as well as the transfer of an award certificate.
To account for the recent addition of the Trademarks for Humanity
Program, the name of this information collection has been changed from
``Patents for Humanity Program'' to ``Patents for Humanity Program and
Trademarks for Humanity Program.'' Also, the frequency of the
Trademarks for Humanity program has been adjusted from biennially to
`on occasion.' Additionally, the form PTO/SB/431, ``Petition to Extend
the Redemption Period of a Patents for Humanity Program Acceleration
Certificate,'' was
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mislabeled as PTO/PFH/003 in the 60-day notice.
Forms: (PFH = Patents for Humanity; TFH = Trademarks for Humanity;
SB = Specimen Book)
PTO/PFH/001 (Humanitarian Use Application)
PTO/PFH/002 (Humanitarian Research Use Application)
PTO/TFH/001 (Trademarks for Humanity Application)
PTO/SB/430 (Certification and Request to Redeem an
Acceleration Certificate Under the Patents for Humanity Program)
PTO/SB/431 (Petition to Extend the Redemption Period of a
Patents for Humanity Program Acceleration Certificate)
PTO/SB/466 (Transfer of Acceleration Certificate Under the
Patents for Humanity Program)
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: Biennially, on occasion.
Estimated Number of Annual Respondents: 82 respondents.
Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 82 responses.
Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that the responses
in this information collection will take the public approximately 30
minutes (0.50 hours) to 4 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: 322 hours.
Estimated Total Annual Respondent Non-hourly Cost Burden: $0.
Justin Isaac,
Information Collections Officer, Office of the Chief Administrative
Officer, United States Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. 2025-06166 Filed 4-10-25; 8:45 am]
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