[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 223 (Friday, November 21, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52621-52622]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-20516]
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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; Legal Processes
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 (hereafter
``USPTO'' or ``Agency'') 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 0651-0046,
which helps the USPTO assess the impact of its information collection
requirements and minimize the reporting burden to the public. Public
comments were previously requested via the Federal Register on July 8,
2025, during a 60-day comment period (90 FR 30053). 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 December 22, 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, http://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, 0651-0046. Do not submit
Confidential Business Information or otherwise sensitive or protected
information.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
This information collection request may be viewed at
http://www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view the Department
of Commerce, USPTO information collections currently under review by
OMB.
Email: [email protected]. Include ``0651-
0046 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: Kyu Lee, Office of General Law, 571-272-3000.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: Legal Processes.
OMB Control Number: 0651-0046.
Abstract: This collection covers information requirements related
to civil actions and claims involving current and former employees of
the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The rules for
these legal processes may be found under 37 CFR part 104, which
outlines procedures for service of process, demands for employee
testimony and production of documents in legal proceedings, reports of
unauthorized testimony, employee indemnification, and filing claims
against the USPTO under the Federal Tort Claims Act (28 U.S.C. 2672)
and the corresponding Department of Justice regulations (28 CFR part
14). The public may also petition the USPTO Office of General Counsel
under 37 CFR 104.3 to waive or suspend these rules in extraordinary
cases.
The procedures under 37 CFR part 104 ensure that service of process
intended for current and former employees of the USPTO is handled
properly. The USPTO will accept service of process only for an employee
acting in an official capacity. This collection is necessary so that
respondents or their representatives can serve a summons or complaint
on the USPTO, demand employee testimony and documents related to a
legal proceeding, or file a claim under the Federal Tort Claims Act.
Respondents may also petition the USPTO to waive or suspend these
rules. This collection is also necessary so that current and former
USPTO employees may properly forward service and demands to the Office
of General Counsel, report unauthorized testimony, and request
indemnification. The USPTO covers current employees as respondents
under this information collection even though their responses do not
require approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act. In those instances
where both current and former employees may respond to the USPTO, the
agency estimates that the number of respondents will be low.
For filing claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act, the public may
use Standard Form 95 ``Claim for Damage, Injury, or Death,'' which is
provided by the Department of Justice. Since the publication of the 60-
day Federal Register notice, the USPTO has updated the postage costs
associated with this information collection to reflect correct postage
usage and rates, therefore the non-hourly cost burden for this
information collection is revised from $1,379 to $6,002.
Forms:
Standard Form 95 (Claim for Damage, Injury, or Death).
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: 309 respondents.
Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 309 responses.
Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that the responses
in this information collection will take the
[[Page 52622]]
public approximately 5 minutes (0.08 hours) to 6 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: 131 hours.
Estimated Total Annual Respondent Non-hourly Cost Burden: $6,002.
Justin Isaac,
Information Collections Officer, Office of the Chief Administrative
Officer, United States Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. 2025-20516 Filed 11-20-25; 8:45 am]
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