83 FR 16836 - Third-Party Submissions and Protests
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Patent and Trademark Office Federal Register Volume 83, Issue 74 (April 17, 2018)
Patent and Trademark Office
Federal Register Volume 83, Issue 74 (April 17, 2018)
| Page Range | 16836-16839 | |
| FR Document | 2018-08022 |
[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 74 (Tuesday, April 17, 2018)] [Notices] [Pages 16836-16839] From the Federal Register Online [www.thefederalregister.org] [FR Doc No: 2018-08022] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Patent and Trademark Office Third-Party Submissions and Protests ACTION: Proposed collection; comment request. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, invites comments on a proposed extension of an existing information collection: 0651-0062 (Third-Party Submissions and Protests). [[Page 16837]] DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before June 18, 2018. ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:Email: InformationCollection@uspto.gov. Include ``0651- 0062 comment'' in the subject line of the message. Federal Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Mail: Marcie Lovett, Records and Information Governance Division Director, Office of the Chief Technology Officer, United States Patent and Trademark Office, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information should be directed to Raul Tamayo, Senior 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@upsto.gov with ``0651-0062 comment'' 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 et seq. to examine an application for patent and, when appropriate, issue a patent. The provisions of 35 U.S.C. 122(c), 122(e), 131, and 151, as well as 37 CFR 1.290 and 1.291, limit the ability of a third party to have information entered and considered in, or to protest, a patent application pending before the Office. 37 CFR 1.290 provides a mechanism for third parties to submit to the USPTO, for consideration and inclusion in the record of a patent application, any patents, published patent applications, or other printed publications of potential relevance to the examination of the application. A third-party submission under 37 CFR 1.290 may be made in any non- provisional utility, design, and plant application, as well as in any continuing application. A third-party submission under 37 CFR 1.290 must include a concise description of the asserted relevance of each document submitted, and must be submitted within a certain statutorily specified time period. 37 CFR 1.291 permits a member of the public to file a protest against a pending application. Protests pursuant to 37 CFR 1.291 are supported by a separated statutory provision from third-party submissions under 37 CFR 1.290 (35 U.S.C. 122(c) v. 35 U.S.C. 122(e)). As a result, there are several differences between protests and third- party submissions. For example, 37 CFR 1.291 permits the submission of information in a protest that is not permitted in a third-party submission under 37 CFR 1.290. Specifically, 37 CFR 1.291 provides for the submission of information, including any facts or information adverse to patentability. Further, 37 CFR 1.291 requires a protest to include a concise explanation of the relevance of each item of information submitted. Unlike the concise description of relevance required for a third-party submission under 37 CFR 1.290, which is limited to a description of a document's relevance, the concise explanation for a protest under 37 CFR 1.291 allows for arguments against patentability. Additionally, the specified time period for submitting a protest differs from the time period for submitting third-party submissions, and is impacted by whether the protest is accompanied by the written consent of the applicant. Statute/Rule................ 35 U.S.C. 122(e), 37 35 U.S.C. 122(c), 37 CFR 1.290. CFR 1.291. Content..................... Printed publications Printing publications and any facts or information adverse to patentability. Remarks..................... Concise description Concise explanation of relevance of the relevance (limited to a (allows for concise description arguments against of each document's patentability). relevance). Timing...................... Prior to Allowance Prior to Allowance and prior to later and prior to Pre- of: 6 months after Grant Publication Pre-Grant OR Prior to Publication or Allowance and after first rejection of and after Pre-Grant any claim. Publication with application consent. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This information collection is necessary so that the public may contribute to the quality of issued patents. The USPTO will use this information, as appropriate, to assist in evaluating the patent application as it moves through the patent examination process. II. Method of Collection OMB Number: 0651-0062. IC Instruments: PTO/SB/429. Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection. Affected Public: Individuals or households; businesses or other for-profits; and not-for-profit institutions. Estimated Number of Respondents: 1,450 responses per year. Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that it will take the pubic approximately 10 hours to gather the necessary information, prepare the appropriate form or document, and submit the information to the USPTO. Estimated Total Annual Hour Burden: 14,500 hours. Estimated Annual Respondent (Hourly) Cost Burden: $6,351,000.00. The USPTO expects that intellectual property attorneys in private firms will complete the instruments associated with this information collection. The professional hourly rate is $438. The rate is established by estimates in the 2017 Report on the Economic Survey, published by the Committee on Economics of Legal Practice of the American Intellectual Property Law Association. Using this hourly rate, the USPTO estimates that the total respondent cost burden for this collection is $6,351,000 per year. [[Page 16838]] Table 1--Burden Hour and Cost -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Response time Annual burden IC No. Item (hours) Responses hours Rate Total cost (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (a) x (b) (c) x (d) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1............................ Third-Party Submissions in Non- 10 1,400 14,000 $438.00 $6,132,000.00 issued Applications (electronic). 2............................ Third-Party Submissions in Non- 10 40 400 438.00 175,200.00 issued Applications (paper). 3............................ Protests by the Public Against 10 10 100 438.00 43,800.00 Pending Applications Under 37 CFR 1.291 (paper). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total.................... ................................... .............. 1,450 14,500 .............. 6,351,000.00 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Estimated Total Annual (Non-hour) Respondent Cost Burden: $74,160 per year. There are no capital start-up, recordkeeping or maintenance costs associated with this information collection. There are, however, annual (non-hour) costs associated with this information collection in the forms of filing fees and postage costs. In particular, 37 CFR 1.290 requires payment of the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(o) ($180 undiscounted; $90 for a small or micro entity) for every ten documents, or fraction thereof, listed in each third-party submission. The USPTO provides an exemption from the 1.17(o) fee requirement where a third-party submission listing three or fewer total documents is the first third-party submission submitted in an application by the third party, or a party in privity with the third party. The effect of this is that the first three documents submitted by a third party are exempt from the fee requirement. However, the submission of four or more documents by a third party triggers the collection of the fee. There is no fee for filing protests under 37 CFR 1.291 unless the filed protest is the second or subsequent protest by the same real party in interest, in which case the 37 CFR 1.17(i) fee of $130 must be included. The USPTO estimates that only 1 out of every 10 protests filed per year will require this fee. When electronically submitting the information in this collection to the USPTO, the applicant is encouraged to retain a copy of the file submitted to the USPTO as evidence of the application. Inclusion of an USPS acknowledgement receipt with mailed items provides evidence of the date the file was received by the USPTO. The USPTO does not, however, require this recordkeeping, and thus does not consider this action to be a recordkeeping cost imposed on the applicant. Table 2--Filing Fees ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Estimated Total Non-hour IC No. Item annual Filing fee ($) cost burden responses ($) .................................. .............. .............. .............. (a) (b) (a) x (b) = (c) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1-2......................... Third-Party Submissions in Non- 410 $180.00 $73,800.00 issued Applications. 1-2......................... Third-Party Submissions in Non- 170 90.00 15,300.00 issued Applications (small and micro entities). 3........................... Protests by the Public Against 1 130.00 130.00 Pending Applications Under 37 CFR 1.291. ----------------------------------------------- Total................... .................................. 581 .............. 73,930.00 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This collection also has non-hourly annual cost burden in the form of postage costs. Customers may incur postage costs when submitting the instruments contained within this collection to the USPTO by mail through the United States Postal Service. The USPTO estimates that the average first class postage cost for a one-pound submission mailed in a flat-rate envelope to be $6.70. The USPTO estimates that the vast majority--roughly 98 percent--of all paper submissions will be delivered by mail, with the remainder being delivered by hand delivery, for an estimated that approximately 40 submissions will require postage. Therefore, the estimated postage cost for this collection will be $268. The total non-hour respondent cost burden for this collection in the form of filing fees ($73,930) and postage costs ($268) is approximately $74,198. IV. Request for Comments 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. 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 [[Page 16839]] collection techniques or other forms or information technology. Marcie Lovett, Records and Information Governance Division Director, OCTO, United States Patent and Trademark Office. [FR Doc. 2018-08022 Filed 4-16-18; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 3510-16-P
![16836 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 74 / Tuesday, April 17, 2018 / Notices
Time for
IC No. Item response Responses Burden hours Rate Total cost
(hours)
(a) (b) (c) (d) (e)
(a) × (d) (c) × (d)
1 ........ Letter of Protest (TEAS Global) ......... 1 (60 minutes) ........... 3,475 3,475.00 $438.00 $1,522,050.00
1 ........ Letter of Protest (Paper) .................... 1.25 (75 minutes) ...... 10 12.50 438.00 5,475.00
2 ........ Request to Make Special (TEAS 0.58 (35 minutes) ...... 150 87.00 438.00 38,106.00
Global).
2 ........ Request to Make Special (Paper) ...... 0.75 (45 minutes) ...... 1 0.75 438.00 328.50
3 ........ Response to Petition to Director In- 0.75 (45 minutes) ...... 274 205.50 438.00 90,009.00
quiry Letter (TEAS Global).
3 ........ Response to Petition to Director In- 1 (60 minutes) ........... 1 1.00 438.00 438.00
quiry Letter (Paper).
4 ........ Petition to Make Special (TEAS Glob- 0.58 (35 minutes) ...... 531 307.98 438.00 134,895.25
al).
4 ........ Petition to Make Special (Paper) ....... 0.75 (45 minutes) ...... 2 1.5 438.00 657.00
5 ........ Request to Restore Filing Date 0.58 (35 minutes) ...... 5 2.90 438.00 1,270.20
(TEAS Global).
5 ........ Request to Restore Filing Date 0.75 (45 minutes) ...... 1 0.75 438.00 328.50
(Paper).
6 ........ Request for Reinstatement (TEAS 0.75 (45 minutes) ...... 317 237.75 438.00 104,134.50
Global).
6 ........ Request for Reinstatement (Paper) ... 1 (60 minutes) ........... 1 1.00 438.00 438.00
Total ......................................... .................................... 4,768 4,333.63 ........................ 1,898,129.94
Estimated Total Annual (Non-hour) This collection does have postage cost to Make Special, which has a fee
Respondent Cost Burden: $53,307.84 and filing fees. amount of $100 per respondent. The
per year. This collection has no capital Filing Fees total estimated filing-fee cost for this
start-up, maintenance, or operating fees. collection is $53,300.00
There are fees associated with this
collection, specifically for the Petition
IC No. Item Responses Filing fee Total cost
4 ........ Petition to Make Special (TEAS Global) ...................................................................... 531 $100.00 $53,100.00
4 ........ Petition to Make Special (Paper) ................................................................................. 2 100.00 200.00
Totals ................................................................................................................. 533 ........................ 53,300.00
Postage Cost included in the request for OMB collection techniques or other forms of
approval of this information collection. information technology.
Applicants incur postage costs when
submitting non-electronic information They also will become a matter of
Marcie Lovett,
to the USPTO by mail through the public record.
Records and Information Governance
United States Postal Service (USPS). Comments are invited on: Division Director, OCTO, United States Patent
The USPTO estimates that the vast (a) Whether the proposed collection of and Trademark Office.
majority—approximately 98%—of the information is necessary for the proper [FR Doc. 2018–08021 Filed 4–16–18; 8:45 am]
paper forms are submitted to the USPTO performance of the functions of the BILLING CODE 3510–16–P
via first-class mail, while the rest are agency, including whether the
submitted by hand delivery. The information shall have practical utility;
USPTO estimates that 16 forms will be DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
mailed. The average first-class USPS (b) The accuracy of the agency’s
postage cost for a mailed submission is estimate of the burden (including hours Patent and Trademark Office
$0.50. Therefore, the USPTO estimates and cost) of the proposed collection of
that the postage costs for the mailed information; Third-Party Submissions and Protests
submissions in this collection will total (c) Ways to enhance the quality,
$8. utility, and clarity of the information to ACTION: Proposed collection; comment
Therefore, the USPTO estimates that be collected; and request.
the total annual (non-hour) cost burden (d) Ways to minimize the burden of
daltland on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with NOTICES
for this collection, in the form of filing SUMMARY: The United States Patent and
the collection of information on
fees ($53,300) and postage costs ($8), is Trademark Office (USPTO), as required
respondents, e.g., the use of automated
$53,308 per year. by the Paperwork Reduction Act of
1995, invites comments on a proposed
IV. Request for Comments
extension of an existing information
Comments submitted in response to collection: 0651–0062 (Third-Party
this notice will be summarized or Submissions and Protests).
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![Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 74 / Tuesday, April 17, 2018 / Notices 16839
collection techniques or other forms or NW, Washington, DC 20552, on official the Bureau has not published its
information technology. business days between the hours of 10 definition of consumer inquiries;
a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern Time. You can however, as an operational matter for
Marcie Lovett,
make an appointment to inspect the the purposes of establishing reasonable
Records and Information Governance documents by telephoning 202–435– procedures for providing timely
Division Director, OCTO, United States Patent
7275. responses to consumer inquiries and for
and Trademark Office.
All submissions in response to this the purposes of this request for
[FR Doc. 2018–08022 Filed 4–16–18; 8:45 am]
request for information, including information, the Bureau defines
BILLING CODE 3510–16–P attachments and other supporting consumer inquiries as consumer
materials, will become part of the public requests for information—typically
record and subject to public disclosure. proffered by telephone—to its Office of
BUREAU OF CONSUMER FINANCIAL Proprietary information or sensitive Consumer Response about consumer
PROTECTION personal information, such as account financial products or services, the status
[Docket No. CFPB–2018–0014] numbers or Social Security numbers, or of a complaint, an action taken by the
names of other individuals, should not Bureau, and often combinations
Request for Information Regarding the be included. Submissions will not be thereof.5
Bureau’s Consumer Complaint and edited to remove any identifying or Since it began accepting consumer
Consumer Inquiry Handling Processes contact information. complaints and consumer inquiries in
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: July 2011, the Bureau has established
AGENCY: Bureau of Consumer Financial Darian Dorsey, Deputy Assistant reasonable procedures to provide
Protection. Director, Office of Consumer Response, consumers with timely responses to
ACTION: Notice and request for at 202–435–7268. If you require this their complaints and inquiries, in
information. document in an alternative electronic writing where appropriate.6 To date, the
SUMMARY: The Bureau of Consumer format, please contact CFPB_ Bureau has received more than 1.5
Financial Protection (Bureau) is seeking Accessibility@cfpb.gov. million consumer complaints. The
comments and information from SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: An consumer complaint process seeks to
interested parties to assist the Bureau in important aspect of the Bureau’s provide consumers with timely
assessing its handling of consumer mission is hearing directly from the responses to their complaints, while the
complaints and consumer inquiries and, American public about their consumer inquiry process aims to
consistent with law, considering experiences in the consumer financial provide timely answers to consumers
whether changes to its processes would marketplace. Pursuant to 12 U.S.C. who submit inquiries. Both processes
be appropriate. 5511(c)(2), ‘‘collecting, investigating, support the Bureau’s statutory objective
and responding to consumer to provide consumers with timely and
DATES: Comments must be received by
complaints’’ is one of the six statutory understandable information about
July 16, 2018. consumer financial products and
‘‘primary functions’’ of the Bureau. In
ADDRESSES: You may submit responsive addition, ensuring that ‘‘consumers are services to make responsible decisions.
information and other comments, provided with timely and To that end, the Bureau has established
identified by Docket No. CFPB–2018– understandable information to make reasonable procedures for responding to
0014, by any of the following methods: responsible decisions about financial both consumer complaints and
• Electronic: Go to http:// transactions’’ is one of its six consumer inquiries.
www.regulations.gov. Follow the enumerated objectives.1 Though the Bureau is required to
instructions for submitting comments. In furtherance of these statutory establish reasonable procedures to
• Email: FederalRegisterComments@ mandates, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street provide timely responses to consumer
cfpb.gov. Include Docket No. CFPB– Reform and Consumer Protection Act complaints and consumer inquiries,
2018–0014 in the subject line of the (Dodd-Frank Act) requires the Bureau to certain aspects of the complaint and
message. establish a unit to ‘‘facilitate the inquiry handling processes were
• Mail: Comment Intake, Consumer centralized collection of, monitoring of, developed in furtherance of those
Financial Protection Bureau, 1700 G and response to consumer complaints statutory requirements but are not
Street NW, Washington, DC 20552. regarding consumer financial products directly mandated by statute. Mindful of
• Hand Delivery/Courier: Comment or services’’ 2 and directs the Bureau to the Bureau’s statutory objective to
Intake, Consumer Financial Protection establish reasonable procedures to provide consumers with timely and
Bureau, 1700 G Street NW, Washington, provide timely responses to consumer understandable information about
DC 20552. complaints and consumer inquiries.3
Instructions: The Bureau encourages consumer financial products and
The Bureau defines consumer services so they can make responsible
the early submission of comments. All complaints as ‘‘submissions that express
submissions must include the document decisions, as well as its statutory
dissatisfaction with, or communicate obligations to (1) establish reasonable
title and docket number. Please note the suspicion of wrongful conduct by, an
number of the topic on which you are procedures to provide consumers with
identifiable entity related to a timely responses and (2) centralize the
commenting at the top of each response consumer’s personal experience with a
(you do not need to address all topics). collection of consumer complaints
financial product or service.’’ 4 To date, about consumer financial products or
Because paper mail in the Washington,
DC area and at the Bureau is subject to 1 12 U.S.C. 5511(b)(1).
daltland on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with NOTICES
5 12 U.S.C. 5511(b)(1) authorizes the Bureau to
delay, commenters are encouraged to 2 The Bureau’s Office of Consumer Response ensure that, with respect to consumer financial
submit comments electronically. In (‘‘Consumer Response’’) serves these and other products and services, ‘‘consumers are provided
general, all comments received will be functions. 12 U.S.C. 5493(b)(3)(A). with timely and understandable information to
3 12 U.S.C. 5534(a). make responsible decisions about financial
posted without change to http:// 4 Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, transactions’’; some of this work occurs in the
www.regulations.gov. In addition, Consumer Response Annual Report (Mar. 2012), consumer complaint and inquiry processes
comments will be available for public available at http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/ performed within the Office of Consumer Response.
inspection and copying at 1700 G Street 201204_cfpb_ConsumerResponseAnnualReport.pdf. 6 12 U.S.C. 5534(a).
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Document Created: 2018-04-17 02:51:41
Document Modified: 2018-04-17 02:51:41
| Category | Regulatory Information | |
| Collection | Federal Register | |
| sudoc Class | AE 2.7: GS 4.107: AE 2.106: | |
| Publisher | Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration | |
| Section | Notices | |
| Action | Proposed collection; comment request. | |
| Dates | Written comments must be submitted on or before June 18, 2018. | |
| Contact | Requests for additional information should be directed to Raul Tamayo, Senior 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 [email protected] with ``0651-0062 comment'' in the subject line. Additional information about this collection is also available at http://www.reginfo.gov under ``Information Collection Review.'' | |
| FR Citation | 83 FR 16836 |
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