[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 223 (Friday, November 21, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52622-52623]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-20515]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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 Cooperation Treaty
AGENCY: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Department of
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of information collections; request for comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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 this
information collection renewal of 0651-0021 (Patent Cooperation
Treaty), 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 23, 2025 during a 60-day comment period (90 FR 26555). This notice
allows for an additional 30 days for public comment.
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, 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, 0651-0021. Do not submit
Confidential Business Information or otherwise sensitive or protected
information.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
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.
Email: [email protected]. Include ``0651-
0021 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: Rafael Bacares, Senior Legal Advisor,
International Patent Legal Administration, 571-272-3276.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Agency: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Department of
Commerce.
Title: Patent Cooperation Treaty.
OMB Control Number: 0651-0021.
Needs and Uses: This collection of information is required by the
Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), which became operational in June 1978
and is administered by the International Bureau (IB) of the World
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva, Switzerland. The
provisions of the PCT have been implemented by the United States in
part IV of title 35 of the U.S. Code (chapters 35-37) and subpart C of
title 37 of the Code of Federal Regulations (37 CFR 1.401-1.499). The
purpose of the PCT is to provide a standardized filing format and
procedure that allows an applicant to seek protection for an invention
in several countries by filing one international application in one
location, in one language, and paying one initial set of fees.
The USPTO acts as the Receiving Office (RO/US) for international
applications filed by residents and nationals of the United States.
These applicants send most of their correspondence directly to the
USPTO, but they may also file certain documents directly with the IB.
The USPTO serves as an International Search Authority (ISA) to perform
searches and issue international search reports (ISR) and the written
opinions of international applications. The USPTO also issues
international preliminary reports on patentability (IPRP Chapter II)
when acting as an International Preliminary Examining Authority (IPEA).
The RO reviews the application and, if it contains all of the
necessary information, assigns a filing date to the application. The RO
maintains the home copy of the international application and forwards
the record copy of the application to the IB and the search copy to the
ISA. The IB maintains the record copy of all international applications
and publishes them 18 months after the earliest priority date, which is
the earliest date for which a benefit is claimed. The ISA performs a
search to determine whether there is any prior art relevant to the
claims of the international application and will issue an international
search report and written opinion as to whether each claim is novel,
involves an inventive step, and is industrially applicable. The ISA
then forwards the international search report and written opinion to
the applicant and the IB. The IB will normally publish the application
and search report 18 months after the priority date, unless early
publication is requested by the applicant. Until international
publication, no third person or national or regional office is allowed
access to the international patent application unless so requested or
authorized by the applicant. If the applicant wishes to withdraw the
application (and does so before international publication),
international publication does not take place.
Under optional Chapter II of the Treaty, an applicant who has filed
an international application in an RO must file a Demand for an
international preliminary examination of the application by an IPEA,
such as the USPTO. A Demand, including the form and required fees, must
be filed within a prescribed time period. Usually, a Demand is filed
with amendments and/or arguments under PCT Article 34 addressing
objections raised in the Written Opinion of the International Search
Authority (WOISA). The International preliminary examination is a
second evaluation of the potential patentability of the claimed
invention (usually the claims have been amended), using the same
standards on which the written opinion of the ISA was based. A copy of
the examination report is sent to the applicant and to the IB. The IB
then forwards a copy of the examination report to each Office elected
by the applicant.
The information in this collection is used by the public to submit
a patent application under the PCT and by the United States Patent and
Trademark Office (USPTO), to fulfill its obligation to process, search,
and examine the application as directed by the treaty.
Forms: (IB = International Bureau; IPEA = International Preliminary
Examination Authority; RO = Receiving Office; SB =Specimen Book)
[[Page 52623]]
PCT/RO/101 (Request and Fee Calculation Sheet)
PCT/RO/134 (Indications Relating to Deposited Microorganism or
Other Biological Material)
PCT/IB/372 (Notice of Withdrawal)
PCT/IPEA/401 (Demand and Fee Calculation Sheet)
PTO/SB/64/PCT (Petition for Revival of an International (PCT)
Application for Patent Designating the U.S. Abandoned Unintentionally
Under 37 CFR 1.137(a))
PTO-1382 (Transmittal Letter to the United States Receiving
Office (RO/US))
PTO-1390 (Transmittal Letter to the United States Designation/
Elected Office (DO/E.O./US) Concerning a Filing Under 35 U.S.C. 371)
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: 412,493 respondents.
Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 412,493 responses.
Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that the responses
in this information collection will take the public between 15 minutes
(0.25 hours) and 4 hours to complete. This includes the time to gather
the necessary information, create the document, and submit the
completed item(s) to the USPTO.
Estimated Total Annual Respondent Burden Hours: 343,739 hours.
Estimated Total Annual Respondent Non-hourly Cost Burden:
$452,878,858.
The postage costs have increased since the 60-day Federal Register
notice from $10.40 to $11.20 for the Priority Mail legal flat rate
envelope used for mailed submissions. As a result, the estimated
postage costs have increased from $42,900 to $46,200. This accounts for
the added $3,300 to the estimated total annual non-hourly cost burden.
Justin Isaac,
Information Collections Officer, Office of the Chief Administrative
Officer, United States Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. 2025-20515 Filed 11-20-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-16-P