During the pendency of a patent
application or the period of enforceability of a patent, situations
arise that require collection of information for the USPTO to
further process the patented file or the patent application, The
American Inventors Protection Act of 1999 amended 35 U.S.C. 132 to
provide that the USPTO may prescribe regulations for the continued
examination of applications (for a fee) at the request of the
applicant (Request for Continued Examination (RCE)). The USPTO
plans to publish a proposed rule eliminating continued prosecution
applications for utility and plant applicantions, in favor of this
new RCE
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.