[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 83 (Thursday, May 1, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18648-18650]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-07524]
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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 External Quality Survey
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), as
required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, invites comments on
the extension and revision of an existing information collection: 0651-
0057 (Patents External Quality Survey). The purpose of this notice is
to allow 60 days for public comments preceding submission of the
information collection to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
DATES: To ensure consideration, you must submit comments regarding this
information collection on or before June 30, 2025.
[[Page 18649]]
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-
0057 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 David Fitzpatrick, Management Analyst, Chief
Patent Statistician, United States Patent and Trademark Office, P.O.
Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450; 571-272-0525; or
[email protected] with ``0651-0057 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 USPTO Quality Survey is designed to measure opinions about the
services the USPTO provides to its patent application customers. This
information collection contains a survey that the USPTO uses to gauge
customer satisfaction with patent examination quality.
The results from this voluntary survey will assist the USPTO in
guiding improvements and enhancements in the future. The USPTO conducts
the Patents External Quality Survey as part of its quality improvement
efforts. This survey narrows the focus of customer satisfaction to
examination quality and uses a longitudinal, rotating panel design to
assess changes in customer perceptions and to identify key areas for
examiner training and opportunities for improvement. The USPTO uses
this survey to identify problems with examination quality and works to
resolve these issues in a timely manner. The USPTO surveys patent
agents, attorneys, and other individuals from large domestic
corporations (including those with 500+ employees), small and medium-
sized businesses, independent inventors, and universities and other
non-profit research organizations. This survey does not include foreign
entities.
The random sample used in this survey is drawn from One Patent
Service Gateway. The sample population is drawn from the top filing
firms, which are entities that have filed more than five patent
applications in a 12-month period. This ongoing survey is generally
conducted twice a year. The USPTO uses a rotating panel design where
participants take the survey twice in back-to-back survey periods
(waves). Half the participants in each survey period are new and
complete the survey for the first time and half return to complete the
same survey for a second time. This design allows a precise measurement
of changes in customer experience over time. The rotating panels and
their impact on respondents are described in more detail in the table
below.
Table 1--The Rotating Panel
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Panel 1...................... Holdover panel from the previous year,
respondents are surveyed once in Wave 1.
Panel 2...................... Wave 1 and Wave 2 in the current year,
respondents are surveyed in both waves.
Panel 3...................... New panel in the current year,
respondents are only surveyed once in
Wave 2.
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The Patents External Quality Survey is primarily a web-based
survey, although respondents can also complete the survey via paper and
mail if they prefer. Both versions are identical. The USPTO sends
potential respondents either an email or mailed pre-survey letter,
depending on the respondent's preferred method of contact. At the
beginning of each survey period, the USPTO provides respondents with
instructions for accessing and completing the survey electronically.
After a specified response period, the USPTO sends a survey packet to
all sample members who have not yet submitted a response. The packet
contains the questionnaire, a separate cover letter, and a postage-paid
pre-addressed return envelope. Sampled members receiving a paper survey
can still complete the survey electronically if they prefer. The USPTO
also uses reminder/thank-you postcards and telephone calls to encourage
a response from sample members.
II. Method of Collection
The survey may be submitted electronically or in paper form via
mail.
III. Data
OMB Control Number: 0651-0057.
Forms:
PTO/2535 (External Quality Survey)
Type of Review: Extension and revision of a currently approved
information collection.
Affected Public: Private sector.
Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
Frequency: On occasion.
Estimated Number of Annual Respondents: 750 respondents.
Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 1,000 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: 171 hours.
Estimated Total Annual Respondent Hourly Cost Burden: $76,437.
Table 2--Total Burden Hours and Hourly Costs to Private Sector Respondents
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Estimated
Estimated Responses Estimated Estimated time for Estimated annual
Item No. Item annual per annual response (hours) burden (hour/ Rate \1\ respondent
respondents respondent responses year) cost burden
(a) (b) (a) x (b) = (d).................... (c) x (d) = (f) (e) x (f) =
(c) (e) (g)
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1................ Patents External Quality 250 1 250 0.17 (10 minutes)...... 43 $447 $19,221
Survey (Holdover panel
from the previous year,
surveyed once in Wave
1).
[[Page 18650]]
2................ Patents External Quality 250 2 500 0.17 (10 minutes)...... 85 447 37,995
Survey (Present in Wave
1 and Wave 2 in the
current year).
3................ Patents External Quality 250 1 250 0.17 (10 minutes)...... 43 447 19,221
Survey (New panel in
the current year,
surveyed once in Wave
2).
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Totals............... 750 ........... 1,000 ....................... 171 ........ 76,437
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Estimated Total Annual Respondent Non-hourly Cost Burden: $0. There
are no capital start-up costs, maintenance costs, recordkeeping costs,
filing fees, or postage costs associated with this information
collection. The USPTO covers the costs of all survey materials and
provides postage-paid, pre-addressed return envelopes for the surveys
that are returned by mail.
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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; 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).
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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. 2025-07524 Filed 4-30-25; 8:45 am]
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