[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 102 (Thursday, May 28, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31704-31705]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2026-10622]
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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; Native American Tribal Insignia Database
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 0651-0048,
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 January
23, 2026, during a 60-day comment period (91 FR 2916). 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 June 29, 2026.
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, 0651-0048. 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. Follow the instructions to view the Department
of Commerce, USPTO information collections currently under review by
OMB.
Email: [email protected]. Include ``0651-
0048 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: Emily Carlsen, Legal Policy Office, 571-272-
2235.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: Native American Tribal Insignia Database.
OMB Control Number: 0651-0048.
Abstract: The Trademark Law Treaty Implementation Act of 1998 (Pub.
L. 105-330, 302, 112 Stat. 3071) requires the USPTO to study issues
surrounding the protection of the official insignia of federally and
state-recognized Native American tribes under trademark law. The USPTO
conducted the study and presented a report to the House and Senate
Judiciary Committees on November 30, 1999.\1\ One of the
recommendations made in the report was that the USPTO create and
maintain an accurate and comprehensive database containing the official
insignia of all federally and state-recognized Native American tribes.
In accordance with this recommendation, the Senate Committee on
Appropriations directed
[[Page 31705]]
the USPTO to create this database. The USPTO published the final
procedures for establishing and maintaining the tribal insignia
database in the Federal Register on August 24, 2001 (66 FR 44603).\2\
The USPTO database of official tribal insignias provides evidence
of what a federally or state-recognized Native American tribe considers
to be its official insignia. Section 2(a) of the Trademark Act, 15
U.S.C. 1052(a), bars the registration of marks that falsely suggest a
connection with a non-sponsoring person or institution, including a
Native American tribe. The database thereby assists trademark examining
attorneys to evaluate applications for trademark registration by
serving as a reference for determining the registrability of a mark
that may falsely suggest a connection to the official insignia of a
Native American tribe. The database, included within the trademark
search system, is available to the public on the USPTO website, and
includes an online help program for using the system. More information
about the program is available on the website at https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/laws/native-american-tribal-insignia.
Tribes are not required to request that their official insignia be
included in the database. The entry of an official insignia into the
database does not confer any rights to the tribe that submitted the
insignia, and entry is not the legal equivalent of registering the
insignia as a trademark under 15 U.S.C. 1051 et seq. The inclusion of
an official tribal insignia in the database does not create any legal
presumption of validity or priority, does not carry any of the benefits
of federal trademark registration, and is not a determination as to
whether a particular insignia would be refused registration as a
trademark pursuant to 15 U.S.C. 1051 et seq.
Requests from federally recognized tribes to enter an official
insignia into the database must be submitted in writing and include:
(1) a depiction of the insignia, including the name of the tribe and
the correspondence address; (2) a copy of the tribal resolution
adopting the insignia in question as the official insignia of the
tribe; and (3) a statement, signed by an official with authority to
bind the tribe, confirming that the insignia included with the request
is identical to the official insignia adopted by the tribal resolution.
Requests from state-recognized tribes must also be in writing and
include each of the three items described above that are submitted by
federally recognized tribes. Additionally, requests from state-
recognized tribes must include either: (a) a document issued by a state
official that demonstrates the state's determination that the entity is
a Native American tribe; or (b) a citation to a state statute
designating the entity as a Native American tribe.
The USPTO then enters insignia that have been properly submitted by
federally or state-recognized Native American tribes into the database
and does not investigate whether the insignia is actually the official
insignia of the tribe making the request.
This information collection includes the information the USPTO
requires to enter an official insignia for a federally or state-
recognized Native American tribe into a database of such insignia.
There are no forms associated with this information collection.
Forms: None.
Type of Review: Extension and revision of a currently approved
information collection.
Affected Public: State, local, and tribal governments.
Respondent's Obligation: Required to obtain or retain benefits.
Frequency: On occasion.
Estimated Number of Annual Respondents: 39 respondents.
Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 39 responses.
Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that the responses
in this information collection will take the public approximately 1
hour 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: 39 hours.
Estimated Total Annual Respondent Non-hourly Cost Burden: $25.
Since the publication of the 60-day notice, the USPTO has updated
the postage rate associated with this information collection from
$12.10 to $12.25. This results in an increase of $1 in non-hourly cost
burden, for a new estimated total annual respondent non-hourly cost
burden of $25.
Justin Isaac,
Information Collections Officer, Office of the Chief Administrative
Officer, United States Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. 2026-10622 Filed 5-27-26; 8:45 am]
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