Notices. Proposed collection; comment request

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BILLING CODE 3510-NK-M DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE United States Patent and Trademark Office Patent Processing (Updating) ACTION: Proposed collection; comment request. SUMMARY: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on the revision of a continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)).

DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before May 21, 2012. ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods: • *Email: InformationCollection@uspto.gov.* Include “0651-0031 comment” in the subject line of the message. • *Mail:* Susan K. Fawcett, Records Officer, Office of the Chief Information Officer, United States Patent and Trademark Office, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450. • *Federal Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.* FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Requests for additional information should be directed to the attention of Raul Tamayo, Legal Advisor, Office of Patent Legal Administration, United States Patent and Trademark Office, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450, by telephone at

(571)272-7728, or by email to *Raul.Tamayo@uspto.gov* with “Paperwork” in the subject line. Additional information about this collection is also available at *http://www.reginfo.gov* under “Information Collection Review.” SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. Abstract The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is required by 35 U.S.C. 131 to examine an application for patent and, when appropriate, issue a patent. Also, the USPTO is required to publish patent applications, with certain exceptions, promptly after the expiration of a period of eighteen months from the earliest filing date for which a benefit is sought under Title 35, United States Code (“eighteen-month publication”). Certain situations may arise which require that additional information be supplied in order for the USPTO to further process the patent or application. The USPTO administers the statutes through various sections of the rules of practice in 37 CFR Part 1. The information in this collection can be used by the USPTO to continue the processing of the patent or application to ensure that applicants are complying with the patent regulations and to aid in the prosecution of the application. Modifications to this collection since the previous renewal include: three requests for non-substantive change; separately accounting for two requirements; the deletion of an item from the collection, and adding electronic equivalents for the majority of the paper forms. The USPTO is also planning to move items out of 0651-0031 into two new collections. The three requests for non-substantive change include one in August of 2010 making two changes to an existing form (PTOL-413A); and a second in November of 2010 adding a form for an item that was currently approved (Petition to Withdraw an Application from Issue). The third request for non-substantive change involved six items being deleted from this collection in December of 2011 that had been moved into a new ICR, 0651-0059 Certain Patent Petitions Requiring a Fee. These items include Petitions for Extension of Time under 37 CFR 1.136(b)(PTO/SB/23); Petition for Express Abandonment to Avoid Publication under 1.138(c)(PTO/SB/24a); Petition for Request for Documents in a Form Other Than That Provided by 1.19; Petitions under 37 CFR 1.17(g); Petitions under 37 CFR 1.17(h); and Petition to Make Special under Accelerated Examination Program (PTO/SB28). The two items being separately accounted for in this collection are

(i)Rule 1.130, 1.131, and 1.132 Affidavits or Declarations and

(ii)Amendments and Responses. One item is being deleted from the collection, Request for Processing of Replacement Drawings in Any Patent Application Publication. The USPTO phased out these requests over the last several years due to IT upgrades. Currently, notices of appeal, requests for oral hearing, and pre-appeal brief requests for review are covered under this collection. The USPTO has determined that it would be beneficial to assign these items to their own collection. The USPTO is planning to submit a request to the OMB for a new collection, Matters Related to Patent Appeals, and is planning to ultimately transfer these three notices and requests out of the 0651-0031 inventory and into this new collection upon approval by OMB. The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act was enacted into law on September 16, 2011 (See Pub. L. 112-29, 125 Stat. 284 (2011)). The USPTO published a notice of proposed rulemaking titled “Changes to Implement Miscellaneous Post Patent Provisions of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act” (RIN 0651-AC66) in the **Federal Register** . In the notice, the USPTO proposed to rewrite 37 CFR 1.501 to reflect the amendment to 35 U.S.C. 301 by section 6(g)(1) of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act. Proposed 37 CFR 1.501 provides that a submission can include prior art and claim scope statements of the patent owner. In light of the proposed rulemaking, the USPTO submitted a request for a new information collection, Post Patent Public Submissions, and requested that the existing item “Information Disclosure Citation in a Patent” (PTO/SB/42) be transferred out of the 0651-0031 Patent Processing (Updating) approved inventory and into this new collection when this new collection is approved by OMB. II. Method of Collection In general, the items in this collection can be submitted to the USPTO on paper by mail, facsimile, or hand delivery, or electronically through EFS-Web, the USPTO's Web-based electronic filing system. III. Data *OMB Number:* 0651-0031. *Form Number(s):* PTO/SB/08/08a/08b, PTO/SB/17i, PTO/SB/21-22, PTO/SB/24-27, PTO/SB/24B, PTO/SB/30-33, PTO/SB/35-39, PTO/SB/42-43, PTO/SB/61-64, PTO/SB/64a, PTO/SB/67-68, PTO/SB/91-92, PTO/SB/96-97, PTO-2053-A/B, PTO-2054-A/B, PTO-2055-A/B, PTOL/413A. *Type of Review:* Revision of a currently approved collection. *Affected Public:* Individuals or households; business or other for-profit; not-for-profit institutions. *Estimated Number of Respondents:* 4,777,532 responses per year. *Estimated Time per Response:* The USPTO estimates that it will take the public an average of 1 minute, 48 seconds (0.03 hours) to 10 hours to complete the collections of information described in this submission, depending on the nature of the information. This includes time to gather the necessary information, create the documents, and mail the completed request, depending upon the complexity of the situation. The time estimates shown for the electronic forms are based on the average amount of time needed to complete and electronically file the associated forms. *Estimated Total Annual Respondent Burden Hours:* 11,972,777 hours. *Estimated Total Annual Respondent Cost Burden:* $3,573,910,186. The USPTO expects that attorneys and paraprofessionals will complete and submit this information. The estimated hourly rate for attorneys is $340 and the paraprofessional rate is $122. Item Estimated time for response Estimated annual responses Estimated annual burden hours EFS-Web IDS (Information Disclosure Statements) that do not require the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(p) 2 hours 500,000 1,000,000 Information Disclosure Statements that do not require the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(p) 2 hours 40,000 80,000 EFS-Web IDS (Information Disclosure Statements) that require the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(p) 2 hours 100,000 200,000 Information Disclosure Statements that require the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(p) 2 hours 10,000 20,000 Electronic Transmittal Form 2 hours 1,020,000 2,040,000 Transmittal Form 2 hours 80,000 160,000 Electronic Petition for Extension of Time under 37 CFR 1.136(a) 6 minutes 295,000 29,500 Petition for Extension of Time under 37 CFR 1.136(a) 6 minutes 20,100 2,010 Electronic Express Abandonment under 37 CFR 1.138 12 minutes 6,500 1,300 Express Abandonment under 37 CFR 1.138 12 minutes 500 100 Electronic Disclaimers 12 minutes 40,000 8,000 Disclaimers 12 minutes 5,000 1,000 Electronic Request for Expedited Examination of a Design Application 6 minutes 370 37 Request for Expedited Examination of a Design Application 6 minutes 30 3 Electronic Notice of Appeal 12 minutes 34,900 6,980 Notice of Appeal 12 minutes 2,600 520 Electronic Information Disclosure Citation in a Patent 10 hours 930 9,300 Information Disclosure Citation in a Patent 10 hours 70 700 Electronic Petition for Revival of an Application for Patent Abandoned Unavoidably 8 hours 330 2,640 Petition for Revival of an Application for Patent Abandoned Unavoidably 8 hours 30 240 Electronic Petition for Revival of an Application for Patent Abandoned Unintentionally 1 hour 7,400 7,400 Petition for Revival of an Application for Patent Abandoned Unintentionally 1 hour 600 600 Electronic Petition for Revival of an Application for Patent Abandoned for Failure to Notify the Office of a Foreign or International Filing 1 hour 230 230 Petition for Revival of an Application for Patent Abandoned for Failure to Notify the Office of a Foreign or International Filing 1 hour 20 20 Electronic Requests to Access, Inspect and Copy 12 minutes 121,000 24,200 Requests to Access, Inspect and Copy 12 minutes 9,000 1,800 Electronic Deposit Account Order Form 12 minutes 90 18 Deposit Account Order Form 12 minutes 10 2 Electronic Certificates of Mailing, Transmission 1 minute, 48 seconds 930,000 27,900 Certificates of Mailing, Transmission 1 minute, 48 seconds 70,000 2,100 Electronic Statement Under 37 CFR 3.73(b) 12 minutes 140,000 28,000 Statement Under 37 CFR 3.73(b) 12 minutes 10,000 2,000 Electronic Non-publication Request 6 minutes 21,500 2,150 Non-publication Request 6 minutes 1,500 150 Electronic Rescission of Previous Non-publication Request (35 U.S.C. 122(b)(2)(B)(ii)) and, if applicable, Notice of Foreign Filing (35 U.S.C. 122(b)(2)(B)(iii)) 6 minutes 1,000 100 Rescission of Previous Non-publication Request (35 U.S.C. 122(b)(2)(B)(ii)) and, if applicable, Notice of Foreign Filing (35 U.S.C. § 122(b)(2)(B)(iii)) 6 minutes 100 10 Electronic Filing System

(EFS)Copy of Application for Publication 2 hours, 30 minutes 1 3 Copy of File Content Showing Redactions 4 hours 1 4 Copy of the Applicant or Patentee's Record of the Application (including copies of the correspondence, list of the correspondence, and statements verifying whether the record is complete or not) 2 hours 20 40 EFS-Web Request for Continued Examination

(RCE)Transmittal 12 minutes 150,000 30,000 Request for Continued Examination

(RCE)Transmittal 12 minutes 10,000 2,000 Electronic Request for Oral Hearing Before the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences 12 minutes 1,100 220 Request for Oral Hearing Before the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences 12 minutes 100 20 Electronic Request for Suspension of Action or Deferral of Examination Under 37 CFR 1.103(b), (c), or

(d)12 minutes 560 112 Request for Suspension of Action or Deferral of Examination Under 37 CFR 1.103(b), (c), or

(d)12 minutes 40 8 EFS-Web Request for Voluntary Publication or Republication 12 minutes 650 130 Request for Voluntary Publication or Republication 12 minutes 50 10 Electronic Applicant Initiated Interview Request Form 24 minutes 1,900 760 Applicant Initiated Interview Request Form 24 minutes 100 40 Electronic Processing Fee Under 37 CFR 1.17(i) Transmittal 5 minutes 3,300 264 Processing Fee Under 37 CFR 1.17(i) Transmittal 5 minutes 200 16 Electronic Request to Retrieve Electronic Priority Application(s) Under 37 CFR 1.55(d) 8 minutes 60,000 7,800 Request to Retrieve Electronic Priority Application(s) Under 37 CFR 1.55(d) 8 minutes 5,000 650 Electronic Authorization to Permit Access to Application by Participating Offices Under 37 CFR 1.14(h) 6 minutes 19,000 1,900 Authorization to Permit Access to Application by Participating Offices Under 37 CFR 1.14(h) 6 minutes 1,000 100 Electronic Petition for Express Abandonment to Obtain a Refund 12 minutes 2,000 400 Petition for Express Abandonment to Obtain a Refund 12 minutes 100 20 Electronic Pre-Appeal Brief Request for Review 5 hours 14,700 73,500 Pre-Appeal Brief Request for Review 5 hours 1,100 5,500 EFS-Web Request for Corrected Filing Receipt 5 minutes 22,000 1,760 Request for Corrected Filing Receipt 5 minutes 2,000 160 Electronic Request for First Action Interview (Pilot Program) 2 hours, 30 minutes 1,500 3,750 Petition to Make Special Based on Age for Advancement of Examination under 37 CFR 1.105(c)(1) (EFS-Web only) 2 hours 2,300 4,600 Rule 1.130, 1.131, and 1.132 Affidavits or Declarations 10 hours 50,000 500,000 Electronic Amendments and Responses 8 hours 893,000 7,144,000 Amendments and Responses 8 hours 67,000 536,000 Totals 4,777,532 11,972,777 *Estimated Total Annual (Non-Hour) Respondent Cost Burden:* $357,380,557. This collection has postage costs and filing fees. The public may submit the paper forms and petitions in this collection to the USPTO by mail through the United States Postal Service. If the submission is sent by first-class mail, the public may also include a signed certification of the date of mailing in order to receive credit for timely filing. Therefore, the USPTO estimates that up to 386,271 submissions per year may be mailed. The USPTO estimates that the average submission will be mailed in a standard manila envelope with a weight of 3 ounces at a cost of $1.28, resulting in a total postage cost of $494,427 per year for this collection. There is annual (non-hour) cost burden in the way of filing fees associated with this collection of $356,886,130, as shown in the accompanying table. Item Responses

(yr)Filing fee $ Total non-hour cost burden (a × b)

(c)EFS-Web Information Disclosure Statements

(IDS)that require the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(p) 100,000 $180.00 $18,000,000.00 Information Disclosure Statements

(IDS)that require the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(p) 10,000 180.00 1,800,000.00 Transmittal Forms 1,100,000 None 0.00 One-month extension of time under 37 CFR 1.136(a) 110,000 150.00 16,500,000.00 One-month extension of time under 37 CFR 1.136(a) (small entity) 40,000 75.00 3,000,000.00 Two-month extension of time under 37 CFR 1.136(a) 50,000 560.00 28,000,000.00 Two-month extension of time under 37 CFR 1.136(a) (small entity) 21,000 280.00 5,880,000.00 Three-month extension of time under 37 CFR 1.136(a) 50,000 1,270.00 63,500,000.00 Three-month extension of time under 37 CFR 1.136(a) (small entity) 31,000 635.00 19,685,000.00 Four-month extension of time under 37 CFR 1.136(a) 3,300 1,980.00 6,534,000.00 Four-month extension of time under 37 CFR 1.136(a) (small entity) 2,500 990.00 2,475,000.00 Five-month extension of time under 37 CFR 1.136(a) 3,800 2,690.00 10,222,000.00 Five-month extension of time under 37 CFR 1.136(a) (small entity) 3,500 1,345.00 4,707,500.00 Express abandonment under 37 CFR 1.138 7,000 None 0.00 Statutory Disclaimer 35,500 160.00 5,680,000.00 Statutory Disclaimer (small entity) 9,500 80.00 760,000.00 Request for expedited examination of a design application 400 900.00 360,000.00 Electronic Notice of Appeal 27,900 620.00 17,298,000.00 Electronic Notice of Appeal (small entity) 7,000 310.00 2,170,000.00 Notice of Appeal 2,100 620.00 1,302,000.00 Notice of Appeal (small entity) 500 310.00 155,000.00 Information Disclosure Citations 1,000 None 0.00 Petition to Revive Unavoidably Abandoned Application 120 620.00 74,400.00 Petition to Revive Unavoidably Abandoned Application (small entity) 240 310.00 74,400.00 Petition to Revive Unintentionally Abandoned Application 3,800 1,860.00 7,068,000.00 Petition to Revive Unintentionally Abandoned Application (small entity) 4,200 930.00 3,906,000.00 Petition for revival of an application for patent abandoned for failure to notify the office of a foreign or international filing 200 1,860.00 372,000.00 Petition for revival of an application for patent abandoned for failure to notify the office of a foreign or international filing (small entity) 50 930.00 46,500.00 Requests to Access, Inspect and Copy 130,000 None 0.00 Deposit Account Order Form 100 None 0.00 Certificates of Mailing/Transmission 1,000,000 None 0.00 Statement under 37 CFR 3.73(b) 150,000 None 0.00 Non-publication Request 23,000 None 0.00 Rescission of Previous Non-publication Request (35 U.S.C. 122(b)(2)(B)(ii)) and, if applicable, Notice of Foreign Filing (35 U.S.C. 122(b)(2)(B)(iii)) 1,100 None 0.00 EFS Copy of Application for Publication 1 None 0.00 Copy of File Content Showing Redactions 1 130.00 130.00 Copy of the Applicant or Patentee's Record of the Application (including copies of the correspondence, list of the correspondence, and statements verifying whether the record is complete or not) 20 None 0.00 Request for Continued Examination

(RCE)Transmittal 131,000 930.00 121,830,000.00 Request for Continued Examination

(RCE)Transmittal (small entity) 29,000 465.00 13,485,000.00 Electronic Request for Oral Hearing 900 1,240.00 1,116,000.00 Electronic Request for Oral Hearing (small entity) 200 620.00 124,000.00 Request for Oral Hearing 60 1,240.00 74,400.00 Request for Oral Hearing (small entity) 40 620.00 24,800.00 Processing fee for requests for suspension of action or deferrals of examination under 37 CFR 1.103(b),(c),or(d) 600 130.00 78,000.00 Request for voluntary publication or republication under 37 CFR 1.221(a) 300 430.00 129,000.00 Applicant initiated interview request form 2,000 None 0.00 Processing fee under 37 CFR 1.17(i) transmittal 3,500 130.00 455,000.00 Request to retrieve electronic priority application(s) under 37 CFR 1.55(d) 65,000 None 0.00 Authorization to permit access to application by participating offices under 37 CFR 1.17(h) 20,000 None 0.00 Petition for express abandonment to obtain a refund 2,100 None 0.00 Electronic Pre-Appeal Brief Request for Review 11,700 None 0.00 Electronic Pre-Appeal Brief Request for Review (small entity) 3,000 None 0.00 Pre-Appeal Brief Request for Review 900 None 0.00 Pre-Appeal Brief Request for Review (small entity) 200 None 0.00 Request for Corrected filing receipt (electronic) 22,000 None 0.00 Request for Corrected filing receipt 2,000 None 0.00 Electronic Request for First Action Interview (Pilot Program) 1,500 None 0.00 Petition to Make Special Based on Age for Advancement of Examination Under 37 CFR 1.105(c)(1) (EFS-Web only) 2,300 None 0.00 Rule 1.130, 1.131, and 1.132 Affidavits or Declarations 50,000 None 0.00 Electronic Amendments and Responses 893,000 None 0.00 Amendments and Responses 67,000 None 0.00 TOTAL 4,237,132 356,886,130.00 The USPTO estimates that the total (non-hour) respondent cost burden for this collection in the form of postage costs and filing fees will be $357,380,557. IV. Request for Comments *Comments are invited on:*

(a)Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information shall have practical utility;

(b)the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden (including hours and cost) of the proposed collection of information;

(c)ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and

(d)ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, e.g., the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology. Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized or included in the request for OMB approval of this information collection; they will also become a matter of public record. Dated: March 19, 2012. Susan K. Fawcett, Records Officer, USPTO, Office of the Chief Information Officer. [FR Doc. 2012-6888 Filed 3-21-12; 8:45 am]

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