0651-0032 Final Justification 2007

0651-0032 Final Justification 2007.pdf

Initial Patent Applications

OMB: 0651-0032

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SF-83 SUPPORTING STATEMENT
PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT – OMB CONTROL NUMBER 0651-0032
INITIAL PATENT APPLICATIONS

JUSTIFICATION

Necessity of Information Collection

Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8 of the Constitution provides that Congress shall have the
power….”[t]o promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited
times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and
discoveries.” Congress has exercised this grant of power under the Constitution to
enact the patent statute, Title 35, U.S.C., and to establish the United States Patent and
Trademark Office (USPTO).
The USPTO is required by 35 U.S.C. § 131 to examine applications for patents. An
applicant must provide sufficient information to allow the USPTO to properly examine
the application to determine whether it meets the criteria set forth in the patent statute
and regulations to be issued as a patent. The USPTO administers the statute through
various rules in 37 CFR 1.16 through 1.84. The patent statute and regulations require
that an application for patent (commonly referred to as an application package) include
the following collections of information:
(1) a specification containing a description of the invention and at least one claim
defining the property right sought by the applicant;
(2) a drawing(s) or photograph, where necessary, for an understanding of the invention;
(3) an oath or declaration signed by the applicant; and
(4) a filing fee.
Various types of patent applications are covered under this collection: new original
utility, plant, design, and provisional applications; continuations/divisionals of
international applications; continued prosecution applications (design); and
continuation/divisional and continuation-in-part applications for the utility, plant, and
design applications. In addition to these applications, this collection also contains
petitions to accept unintentionally delayed priority claims, petitions to accept non-signing
inventors or legal representatives/filing by other than all of the inventors or a person not
the inventor, and petitions requesting that applications filed under 37 CFR 1.495(b) are
accorded a national stage entry date.
Previously, applicants could only submit their new original utility and provisional
applications to the USPTO electronically. Now new original design applications can be

filed electronically as well. The electronic options for the design applications are being
submitted to OMB for review as part of this renewal.
In addition to the electronic design applications, this renewal submission also includes
two new patent fees from the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2005. One of the fees
is a new filing fee of $75 for small entities filing original utility applications electronically
on or after December 8, 2004. The other fee is an application size fee that is paid for
applications filed under 35 U.S.C. § 111 on or after December 8, 2004, in which the
specification and the drawings exceed 100 sheets of paper.
The USPTO is taking this opportunity to add five other existing fees or surcharges and
one petition that have been overlooked in previous renewals into the collection:
•
•
•
•
•
•

Surcharges for the late filing of the fees, oaths, or declarations
Surcharges for the late filing of the provisional application coversheets
Fees for filing excess claims
Fees for filing multiple dependent claims
Fees for filing non-English specification
Petition under 37 CFR 1.6(f) to accord an application under 37 CFR 1.495(b) a
national stage entry date. As a result of reviewing the final rule notice,
“Changes to Facilitate Electronic Filing of Patent Correspondence” (RIN 0651AB92), the USPTO determined that this petition, an existing requirement that
was mentioned in the rule, was overlooked in previous submissions and needed
to be added into the collection as well.

In the previous submissions for this collection, the utility, design, and plant applications
were grouped together, causing the response burden and fee tables to not line up with
each other. Other difficulties arose once the USPTO started accepting electronicallyfiled applications for some but not all of the applications. In this renewal submission,
the utility, design, and plant applications have been broken out separately, which allows
the USPTO to show exactly how many of the different applications have been filed. The
USPTO has also determined that the different types of utility, design, and plant
applications have different estimated completion times.
Previously, all of the
applications had the same response time, so separating the applications results in a
more accurate burden estimate. Separating the applications also makes it easier to
account for the electronic filings since the utility, design, and provisional applications
can be filed electronically, but not the plant applications. As a result of separating the
applications, the response and fee burden tables can be more closely aligned.
Table 1 provides the specific statutes and regulations requiring the USPTO to collect
the information for the patent applications and the petitions:
Table 1: Information Requirements to Determine Patentability
Requirement
Specification and claim

Statute

Rule

35 U.S.C. §§ 111 and 112

37 CFR 1.53 and 1.71 through 1.77

Drawing(s)

35 U.S.C. § 113

37 CFR 1.53 and 1.81 through 1.84

Declaration

35 U.S.C. §§§ 25, 115, and
117

37 CFR 1.42, 1.43, 1.47, 1.53, and
1.63 through 1.69

35 U.S.C. §§ 41 and 111

37 CFR 1.16 and 1.53

35 U.S.C. §§§ 111,120, and
121

37 CFR 1.53(d)

Petition to Accept Unintentionally Delayed Priority Claim

35 U.S.C. §§§ 119(b), 119(e),
and 120

37 CFR 1.55 and 1.78

Petition to Accept Non-Signing Inventors or Legal
Representatives/Filing by Other Than All the Inventors or
a Person Not the Inventor

35 U.S.C. §§ 116 through
118

37 CFR 1.42, 1.43, and 1.47

35 U.S.C. § 371

37 CFR 1.6(f) and 1.495(b)

Filing Fee
Continued Prosecution Application – Design (Request
Transmittal and Receipt)

Petition under 37 CFR 1.6(f) to Accord the Application
under 37 CFR 1.495(b) a National Stage Entry Date

Needs and Uses

This information collection contains both paper and electronic forms. For the
applications that are filed in paper, the USPTO provides various fee calculation and fee
transmittal forms, application transmittal forms, and declaration forms. There are also
forms to request the filing of a continuation or division of an international application and
a request transmittal and receipt for transmitted facsimile for the continued prosecution
applications. Some parts of the application, such as the specification and the drawings,
do not have forms associated with them. The petitions covered in this information
collection also do not have forms associated with them. There are 28 forms in this
collection.
New original utility, provisional, and now design applications can be submitted
electronically through the EFS-Web, which is an electronic filing system that is webbased and can be accessed from any web-enabled computer anywhere in the world.
The documents that are submitted through EFS-Web are in the PDF (Portable
Document Format) format. All of the key patent data is collected from the PDF
documents, with a little data collected from the EFS-Web’s standard web-based
screens. Copies of the screens that the registered and unregistered users see when
they file their applications through EFS-Web are attached (Attachment A). Since the
majority of the information for the different applications is provided in the PDF
attachments, copies of the specific electronically-filed applications are not attached to
this submission. The information collected from the EFS-Web forms is processed
automatically. In order to automatically process the data, the USPTO has started
creating PDF web-based fillable forms, such as PTO/SB/14 The Application Data Sheet.
The Information Quality Guidelines from Section 515 of Public Law 106-554, Treasury
and General Government Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2001, apply to this
information collection and comply with all applicable information quality guidelines, i.e.,
the OMB and specific operating unit guidelines.

This proposed collection of information will result in information that will be collected,
maintained, and used in a way consistent with all applicable OMB and USPTO
Information Quality Guidelines. (See Attachment B, the USPTO Information Quality
Guidelines.)
Table 2 outlines how these collections of information are used by the public and by the
USPTO:
Table 2: Needs and Uses of Information Collected to Determine Patentability
Form and Function
Specification (includes at least one
claim) and Drawing(s)

Form #
No Form
Associated

Needs and Uses
•

Used by the applicant to provide a description of the invention
and of the property right sought by the applicant (the claim(s)).
Used by the USPTO to examine an application for patent, and
when appropriate, issue the application as a patent.

•

Forms PTO/SB/06 and 07:
• Used by the USPTO to determine the appropriate fees for small
and non-small entities and for applications containing multiple
dependent claims. NOTE: These forms are seldom used by
applicants, but in the event that an applicant obtained these
forms, their use would reduce fee calculation errors, especially in
those applications containing multiple dependent claims.

Patent Application Fee Determination
Record (Substitute for Form PTO-875)
(Attachment C)

PTO/SB/06

Multiple Dependent Claim Fee
Calculation Sheet (Substitute for Form
PTO-1360; For Use with Form
PTO/SB/06)
(Attachment D)

PTO/SB/07

Fee Transmittal Form
(Attachment E)

PTO/SB/17

•
•

Utility Patent Application Transmittal
(Attachment F)

PTO/SB/05

Design Patent Application Transmittal
(Attachment G)

PTO/SB/18

Plant Patent Application Transmittal
(Attachment H)

PTO/SB/19

Forms PTO/SB/05, 18, and 19:
• Used by the applicant as a checklist to highlight information
which may otherwise have been overlooked at the time of filing.
• Used by the applicant to provide identifying information about
the submitted papers and himself/herself.
• Used by the USPTO to determine whether the submitted papers
constitute an application for patent, whether it is a utility, plant, or
design application.

Declaration for Utility or Design Patent
Application (37 CFR 1.63)
(Attachment I)

PTO/SB/01

Declaration – Additional Inventors –
Supplemental Sheet
(Attachment J)

PTO/SB/02A

PTO/SB/02B
Declaration – Supplemental Priority Data
Sheet
(Attachment J)
Declaration Supplemental Sheet for
Legal Representatives (35 U.S.C. §117)
on Behalf of a Deceased or
Incapacitated Inventor
(Attachment K)
Plant Patent Application (35 U.S.C. 161)
Declaration (37 CFR 1.63) (Attachment
L)

PTO/SB/02LR

Used by applicants to determine fees.
Used by the USPTO to verify applicant fee determination and to
process the fee.

Forms PTO/SB/01, 02A, 02B, 02LR, 03, and 04:
• Assures that an applicant meets all of the requirements of 37
CFR 1.63 by providing the prerequisite language.
• Used by applicants to easily claim the benefit of an earlier
application under 35 U.S.C. § 119 or 365.
• Enables the legal representative of a deceased inventor to file a
patent application by signing the declaration on the behalf of a
deceased or incapacitated inventor.
• Assures that an applicant will provide necessary information
(most often overlooked).
• Used by the USPTO to determine whether the required
information has been set forth in the declaration.

PTO/SB/03

PTO/SB/04

Supplemental Declaration for Utility or
Design Patent Application (37 CFR 1.67)
(Attachment M)

Declaration and Power of Attorney for
Patent Application (in various foreign
languages)
(Attachment N)

Application Data Sheet Form
(Attachment O)

PTO/SB/101
through 110

•
•

Perform the same functions as SB/01, 03, and 04.
Provide the applicant with a native (to the applicant) language
version with English translation of the required declaration.
Chinese, Dutch, German, Italian, French, Japanese, Russian,
Swedish, Spanish, and Korean language declarations are
available.

PTO/SB/14
and EFS-Web

•

Provides applicant with a convenient manner to provide
bibliographic information concerning the applicant and
application that the applicant is either required, or desires, to
provide to the USPTO.
Used by the USPTO to autoload data directly into USPTO
databases, which reduces information capture errors caused by
hand keying.
Used by the USPTO to provide a quick acknowledgment of the
application and the information in USPTO records concerning
the applicant and application.

•
•

Declaration (37 CFR 1.63) for Utility or
Design Application Using an Application
Data Sheet (37 CFR 1.76)
(Attachment P)

PTO/SB/01A

Declaration (37 CFR 1.63) for Plant
Application Using an Application Data
Sheet (37 CFR 1.76)
(Attachment Q)

PTO/SB/03A

Request for Filing a Continuation or
Division of an International Application
(Attachment R)

PTO/SB/13/P
CT

•

Provides applicant with a convenient manner to provide a
declaration containing the minimal information that must be in
the oath or declaration if the application also contains an
application data sheet.
Used by the USPTO to process the declaration.

•

For Design Applications Only: Continued
Prosecution Application (CPA) Request
Transmittal
(Attachment S)

•

Used by applicant to file a continuation or divisional of an
international application.
Used by the USPTO to process a continuation or divisional of an
international application.

•

PTO/SB/29

•

Used by the applicant to request additional examination of a
previously submitted design application.
Used by the USPTO to process and initiate an additional
examination of a previously submitted design application.

•

For Design Applications Only: Receipt
for Facsimile Transmitted CPA
(Attachment T)

PTO/SB/29A

Provisional Application for Patent Cover
Sheet – Paper and Electronic Filing
(Attachment U)

PTO/SB/16
and EFS-Web

•

Used by the applicant to file a provisional application with the
USPTO.
Used by the applicant to include filing fees.
Used by the USPTO to identify provisional applications in order
to promptly and properly process them.
Used by the USPTO to prepare the filing receipt.
Used by the USPTO to identify provisional applications that may
require foreign filing licenses.

•
•
•
•

Petition to Accept Unintentionally
Delayed Priority Claim

No Form
Associated

•

Used by the applicant to submit an unintentionally delayed
priority claim to the USPTO.
Used by the USPTO to determine whether the applicant has
included the documentation and fees necessary for the USPTO
to accept unintentionally delayed priority claim under 35 U.S.C.
§§§ 119, 120, or 365.

•

Petition to Accept Non-Signing Inventors
or Legal Representatives/Filing by Other
Than All the Inventors or a Person Not
the Inventor

No Form
Associated

•

Enables inventors or assignees who cannot locate or obtain
signatures from an inventor or a legal representative of a
deceased inventor to submit a patent application.
Used by the USPTO to ensure that the necessary information
has been provided in support of the oath or declaration.

•

Petition under 37 CFR 1.6(f) to Accord
the Application under 37 CFR 1.495(b) a
National Stage Entry Date

No Form
Associated

Electronic New Utility Patent Application

EFS-Web

•

Used by applicants to request a national stage entry date for
applications filed under 37 CFR 1.495(b)
Used by the USPTO to assign applications filed under 37 CFR
1.495(b) a national stage entry date.

•
•

Used by filers to electronically file a new original utility
application with the USPTO and to include the necessary filing
fees.
Used by the USPTO to examine an application for patent, and
when appropriate, issue the application as a patent.

•

Electronic New Design Application

EFS-Web

•

Used by filers to electronically file a new original design
application with the USPTO and to include the necessary filing
fees.
Used by the USPTO to examine an application for patent, and
when appropriate, issue the application as a patent.

•

Use of Information Technology

Currently, the USPTO does not generally use automated, mechanical, or other
technological collection techniques to collect this information. The USPTO does,
however, collect some of the patent application information electronically. In October
2000, the USPTO released the production version of the Electronic Filing System
(EFS), which used two client-side components to create the patent applications: EFSABX for patent application specification authoring and ePAVE for form generation,
validation, and submission to the USPTO. Because the percentage of electronic filings
fell short of expectations, the USPTO requested feedback from the Intellectual Property
(IP) community on how EFS could be improved. The agency found that the IP
community wanted to file applications using the Adobe PDF (Portable Document
Format) format that they use every day in their practice and that they did not want to
download and install software on their computers in order to electronically file their
applications.
Based on the response from the patent community, the USPTO developed EFS-Web, a
web-based patent application filing system. EFS-Web was deployed in March 2006.
The USPTO also incorporated the functionality of EFS-ABX and ePAVE into EFS-Web
and integrated Private PAIR with the USPTO Portal and consequently stopped
supporting EFS-ABX, ePAVE, and Entrust Direct software late in 2006.
EFS-Web is a web-based patent application and document submission system that
allows applicants to file patent applications and documents without downloading special
software or changing their documentation preparation tools or workflow processes.
Applicants create their patent applications and associated documents using the tools
and processes that they already use and then convert those documents into standard
PDF files that are submitted through EFS-Web to the USPTO. EFS-Web uses standard
web-based screens and prompts. Files are typically submitted through EFS-Web within
minutes, depending on the speed of the Internet connection and the size of the PDF
files. The USPTO has found that the time required for these submissions is significantly
less than that typically required for submissions through the original EFS. In addition,
EFS-Web automatically validates whether the PDF files and data can be accepted
before they are actually submitted and alerts users if the application does not meet

USPTO standards so that the problems can be corrected before final submission to the
USPTO.
Registered and unregistered users can file documents securely through EFS-Web,
which is hosted on secure servers. The applications of registered users are protected
using a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) system and digital certificates which provide
authentication and encryption security.
For filers who are not registered, the
applications are submitted to EFS-Web using Transport Layer Security (TLS) or Secure
Socket Layer (SSL) protocol. Since EFS-Web has these security features in place,
documents that are submitted through EFS-Web cannot be password protected or
encrypted.
Registered users can file new utility, provisional, design, international applications for
filing in the U.S. receiving office, and national stage applications under 35 U.S.C. § 371.
They can also file follow-on documents for previously filed applications, pay the fees for
existing patent applications, or file petitions to accept unintentionally delayed payment
of maintenance fee in an expired patent (37 CFR 1.378(c) or pre-grant publication
requests under 37 CFR 1.211 to 1.221 under the “Existing Application/Patent” option in
EFS-Web. In addition, registered users can save their applications before submission
so that they do not lose any information. They can view their saved submission
packages under “My Workplace” as well as view their last 20 eFiling Acknowledgment
Receipts.
Unregistered users cannot use all of the EFS-Web features. Unregistered users can file
the same application types as the registered filers. They can file petitions to accept
unintentionally delayed payment of maintenance fees in an expired patent (37 CFR
1.378(c)) , but they cannot file follow-on documents for previously filed applications, pay
the fees for existing patent applications, or file the pre-grant publication requests under
37 CFR 1.211 to 1.221 options in “Existing Application/Patent.” Unregistered users
must provide their contact information in order to proceed through the application
process. They cannot access “My Workplace.”
After the application has been successfully submitted through EFS-Web, applicants will
receive an acknowledgement receipt that lists the time and date stamp stating when the
application was submitted to the USPTO, an application number, a confirmation
number, and other critical information, such as the EFS ID, a listing of the
files/documents associated with the submission, and page counts of the
files/documents. This receipt is the legal equivalent of the post card receipt practice
used for the patent application documents that are filed in paper and it is recommended
that applicants print the electronic acknowledgement receipt to keep with their records.
EFS-Web uses the standard PDF file format (versions 1.1 to 1.6), which is readily
available from commercial and free PDF converters. The form-fillable PDF forms do not
need PDF creation software, only the latest free version of the Acrobat Reader
(currently Adobe Reader 7.0.8 and above). The USPTO form-fillable PDF documents
have version numbers; only version 2.0 and higher can be submitted through EFS-Web.

In addition to documents in the PDF format, EFS-Web also accepts PCT EASY .ZIP
compressed files used to submit International PCT applications, and ASCII text files
(.TXT) used to submit bio-sequence listings, computer program listings, large tables,
etc. The .ZIP file must be created as part of the PCT-SAFE software package and can
only be submitted as part of a new PCT application. The bio-sequence listing, computer
program listing, and mega tables are the only attachments that can be submitted as text
files.
The maximum size for EFS-Web submissions is 25 megabytes. Only 60 electronic files
can be filed in any one submission. In cases where the application contains more than
60 files, the USPTO recommends that applicants break up the submission so that 60 or
fewer files are submitted in the initial EFS-Web filing. The initial submission will be
assigned an application number and any remaining electronic files can be filed as
follow-on documents to the initial submission later that same day so that all of the files
that actually make up the application will receive the same filing date.
The form-fillable PDF forms can be printed with data entered by the user; they can also
be saved electronically with the data embedded and can be re-opened in order to
modify the existing data. The form-fillable PDF forms enable the system to import and
export data in XML format to and from document management systems and other
databases.
The information collected from the EFS-Web forms is processed
automatically so the use of these forms accelerates the USPTO’s processing of the
patent applications and documents and increases the accuracy and timeliness of the
data. This reduces the number of times that EFS-Web users have to redo their
documents and reduces the need to file additional papers, such as the “Correction of
Filing” forms. Use of these forms also enables the USPTO to process the requests in
real time.
In order to be able to automatically process the data, the USPTO has started creating
PDF web-based fillable forms, which are interactive forms with various field types and
formatting-options that auto-load field information directly into the USPTO’s systems.
The USPTO plans to convert as many of the existing fillable forms into PDF web-based
fillable forms for the EFS-Web as possible. Some EFS-Web forms will not auto-load
data into the USPTO’s systems and must be reviewed manually, but the majority of the
forms will automatically load the data. The USPTO also has older PDF forms available
through its website. Data entered into these forms will not be saved. If these older
forms are submitted through EFS-Web, the data will not be automatically loaded into the
USPTO’s processing system. If an applicant creates their own form-fillable PDF
document or modifies one of the USPTO’s existing forms, the data from the individual
fields will be accepted, however the data will not be auto loaded into the USPTO’s
processing systems.
There are many benefits to filing through EFS-Web that were not available previously.
Users can access EFS-Web from any computer that can access the Web, regardless of
their location. Since EFS-Web is hosted on the USPTO’s secure servers and not on the
individual’s personal computer, USPTO staff can update EFS-Web without requiring any

action from the user. Applicants can submit fee payments and other requests in real
time. The PDF forms can be passed around to multiple users for collaboration. Legal
assistants or paralegals can submit applications through EFS-Web that have been
previously reviewed by a registered practitioner without the responsible attorney or
agent being present.
The PDF files that are submitted through EFS-Web should include either a handwritten
signature in compliance with 37 CFR 1.4(d)(1) inserted before scanning the document
or converting it to an image-based PDF form or an S-signature in compliance with 37
CFR 1.4(d)(2). When filing a new application through EFS-Web, a signed transmittal
form or a signed Application Data Sheet is recommended for identification purposes;
however, a signature is not required to obtain a filing date for new patent applications.
The PDF files that are submitted as part of the Patent Application Specification in EFSWeb are used to create the legal record of the application. The Official Record for
applications filed through EFS-Web is a TIFF image of the original documents that are
stored in the Image File Wrapper system. Applications and other documents submitted
through EFS-Web are stored exactly as filed, for reference, in an independent location.
The USPTO has created guidelines for the PDF documents to ensure that the
application documents will be processed properly. Documents that do not conform to
these guidelines may not be able to be processed by the USPTO.
EFS-Web integrates with Private Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR), the
USPTO’s online database that provides trusted filers with controlled access to nonpublished patent application information. Private PAIR also contains all of the
information that the public can access in Public PAIR, such as bibliographic data,
status, file history, PDF file images, continuity, foreign priority, patent term adjustments
and extensions, text and TIFF images of published applications and patents,
maintenance fees, and online ordering of copies. The form-fillable PDF forms submitted
through EFS-Web allow the USPTO to extract the form data directly into Patent
Application Locating and Monitoring (PALM), which is the main database used to
process these forms. The data in PALM feeds directly into PAIR. Most new
applications that are submitted electronically through EFS-Web can be viewed in
Private PAIR within an hour after they are filed. Registered users can view and check
on the status of their pending applications in Private PAIR, but unregistered users can
only check on the status and the documents for patent and published applications as
shown in PAIR.
4.

Efforts to Identify Duplication

stage entry date. This information is not collected elsewhere. Therefore, this collection
does not create a duplication of effort or collection of data.
5.

Minimizing the Burden to Small Entities

No significant impact is placed on small entities, as the rule (37 CFR 1.27) simply
requires a small entity to identify itself as such to obtain the benefits of small entity
status.
Pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 41 (h)(1), the USPTO provides a fifty percent (50%) reduction
in the fees charged under 35 U.S.C. § 41(a) and (b) for small entity applicants. The
USPTO’s regulations concerning the payment of reduced patent fees by small entities
are at 37 CFR 1.27 and 1.28, and reduced patent fees for small entity applicants are
shown in 37 CFR 1.16, 1.17, 1.18, and 1.20. In addition, the provisions of the
Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2005 establish a filing fee of $75 for small entities
filing original utility applications electronically on or after December 8, 2004.
6.

Consequences of Less Frequent Collection

This information is collected only when an applicant (or representative) submits an
application. The USPTO also collects information for petitions to accept unintentionally
delayed priority claims, petitions to accept non-signing inventors or legal
representatives/filing by other than all the inventors or a person not the inventor, and
petitions to request that applications filed under 37 CFR 1.495(b) be assigned a national
stage entry date. This information is not collected elsewhere. Therefore, this collection
of information could not be conducted less frequently and the USPTO could not
examine an application or issue a patent as required by the patent statue (35 U.S.C. §
131) if this information was not collected.
7.

Special Circumstances in the Conduct of Information Collection

There are no special circumstances associated with this collection of information.
8.

Consultation Outside the Agency

The 60-Day Federal Register Notice was published on September 12, 2006 (Vol. 71,
No. 176) (Attachment V). The public comment period ended on November 13, 2006.
No comments were received from the public.
In addition, the USPTO consults with the Public Advisory Committees, which were
created by statute in the American Inventors Protection Act of 1999 to advise the Under
Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO on the
management of the patent and trademark operations. The Advisory Committees
consist of United States citizens chosen to represent the interests of the diverse users
of the USPTO. The Advisory Committees review the policies, goals, performance,

budget, and user fees of the patent and trademark operations, respectively, and advise
the Director on these matters.
The USPTO has long-standing relationships with patent bar associations, inventor
groups, and users of our public facilities. Their views are expressed in regularly
scheduled meetings and considered in developing proposals for information collection
requirements. The USPTO also meets regularly with groups from whom patent
application data is collected, such as the American Intellectual Property Law
Association.
9.

Payment or Gifts to Respondents

This information collection does not involve a payment or gift to any respondent.
Response to this information collection is necessary to obtain a patent.
10.

Assurance of Confidentiality

Confidentiality of patent applications is governed by statute (35 U.S.C. § 122) and
regulation (37 CFR 1.14). Upon publication of an application or issuance of an
application as a patent, the entire file contents of the application is available to the
public (subject to the provisions for providing only a redacted copy of the filed contents).
The disclosure of the invention in the application is the quid pro quo for the property
right conferred by the patent grant, and the very means by which the patent statute
achieves its constitutional object of “promot[ing] the progress of science and useful
arts.” The prosecution history contained in the application file is critical to determining
the scope of the property right conferred by a patent grant.
To further define the boundaries of the confidentiality of patent applications in light of
the eighteen-month publication of patent applications introduced under the American
Inventors Protection Act of 1999, the USPTO amended 37 CFR 1.14 to maintain the
confidentiality of applications that have not been published as a U.S. patent application.
In the amended 37 CFR 1.14, the public can obtain status information about the
application, such as whether the application is pending, abandoned, or patented,
whether the application has been published under 35 U.S.C. § 122(b), and the
application “numerical identifier.” This information can be supplied to the public under
certain conditions. The public can also receive copies of an application-as-filed and the
file wrapper, as long as it meets certain criteria.
Applications filed through EFS are maintained in confidence as required by 35 U.S.C.
122(a) until the application is published or a patent is issued. The confidentiality,
security, integrity, authenticity, and non-repudiation of patent applications submitted
electronically through EFS-Web is maintained using PKI technology and digital
certificates for registered users. Applications electronically-filed by non-registered users
are protected using TLS or SSL protocols. Currently, the USPTO is posting issued
patents and application publications on its Internet Website. This information will not be
released to the public unless it is part of an issued patent or application publication.

Patent applicants and/or their designated representatives can view the current status of
their patent application through the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR)
system. Access to patent applications that are maintained in confidence under 35
U.S.C. § 122(a) is restricted to the patent applicant and/or their designated
representatives by the use of digital certificates, which maintain the confidentiality and
integrity of the information transmitted over the Internet. The public can view the status
and history information for published applications and granted patents via PAIR.
11.

Justification for Sensitive Questions

None of the required information is considered to be of a sensitive nature.
12.

Estimate of Hour and Cost Burden to Respondents

Table 3 calculates the burden hours and costs of this information collection to the
public, based on the following factors:
•

Respondent Calculation Factors
Based on budgetary calculations, the USPTO projects that it will receive 543,591
responses per year (using FY 2007 projections as its baseline). The USPTO estimates
that 37% of these responses will be submitted electronically. Table 3, column (b) shows
the number of responses for the items in this collection.

•

Burden Hour Calculation Factors
The USPTO estimates that it takes an average of 24 minutes to 30 hours to complete
the applications and petitions in this information collection. At this time, new original
utility, design, and provisional applications can be submitted electronically through EFSWeb. Since EFS-Web is still relatively new, the USPTO does not yet have a good
indication of how much time is saved by filing applications or documents electronically
via EFS-Web. Accordingly, the USPTO has estimated the same time to complete the
electronically-filed applications as it does to complete those submitted in paper form. As
experience with EFS-Web grows, the USPTO will reevaluate the time required for
electronically-filed versus paper-filed applications and documents. Table 3, column (a)
shows the time estimates for the items in this collection.

•

Cost Burden Calculation Factors
The USPTO believes that associate attorneys will complete the items in this collection.
The professional hourly rate of $304 used to calculate the respondent cost burden is the
median rate for associate attorneys in private firms as published in the 2005 report of the
Committee on Economics of Legal Practice of the American Intellectual Property Law
Association. This report summarized the results of a survey with data on hourly billing
rates. This is a fully-loaded hourly rate.

Table 3: Burden Hour/Burden Cost to Respondents
Item

Hours
(a)

Responses
(yr)
(b)

Burden
(hrs/yr)
(c)
(a) x (b)

Rate
($/hr)
(d)

Total Cost
($/hr)
(e)
(c) x (d)

Original New Utility Applications – No Application
Data Sheet

30.0

116,000

3,480,000

$304.00

$1,057,920,000.00

Electronic Original New Utility Applications – No
Application Data Sheet

30.0

116,000

3,480,000

$304.00

$1,057,920,000.00

Original New Plant Applications – No Application
Data Sheet

7.0

1,115

7,805

$304.00

$2,372,720.00

Original New Design Applications – No Application
Data Sheet

5.0

10,677

53,385

$304.00

$16,229,040.00

Electronic Original Design Applications – No
Application Data Sheet

5.0

10,678

53,390

$304.00

$16,230,560.00

Original New Utility Applications – Application Data
Sheet

29.8

29,000

864,200

$304.00

$262,716,800.00

Electronic Original New Utility Applications –
Application Data Sheet

29.8

29,000

864,200

$304.00

$262,716,800.00

Original New Plant Applications – Application Data
Sheet

6.8

285

1,938

$304.00

$589,152.00

Original New Design Applications – Application
Data Sheet

4.8

2,672

12,826

$304.00

$3,899,104.00

Electronic New Design Applications – Application
Data Sheet

4.8

2,673

12,830

$304.00

$3,900,320.00

Continuation/Divisional of an International
Application – No Application Data Sheet

3.0

7,560

22,680

$304.00

$6,894,720.00

Utility Continuation/Divisional Applications

3.0

56,930

170,790

$304.00

$51,920,160.00

Plant Continuation/Divisional Applications

2.0

230

460

$304.00

$139,840.00

Design Continuation/Divisional Applications

1.0

750

$304.00

$228,000.00

Continued Prosecution Applications – Design
(Request Transmittal and Receipt)

0.4

260

104

$304.00

$31,616.00

Utility Continuation-in-Part Applications

15.0

17,720

265,800

$304.00

$80,803,200.00

Plant Continuation-in-Part Applications

3.5

245

$304.00

$74,480.00

Design Continuation-in-Part Applications

2.5

480

1,200

$304.00

$364,800.00

Provisional Application for Patent Cover Sheet

10.0

96,680

966,800

$304.00

$293,907,200.00

Electronic Provisional Application for Patent Cover
Sheet

10.0

41,490

414,900

$304.00

$126,129,600.00

Petition to Accept Unintentionally Delayed Priority
Claim

1.0

920

$304.00

$279,680.00

Petition To Accept Non-Signing Inventors or Legal
Representatives/Filing by Other Than All the
Inventors or a Person not the Inventor

1.0

2,400

$304.00

$729,600.00

Petition under 37 CFR 1.6(f) to Accord the
Application under 37 CFR 1.495(b) a National
Stage Entry Date
Total

13.

0.5

- - - -

$304.00

543,591

10,677,624

- - - -

$3,245,997,696.00

Total Annualized Cost Burden

There are capital start-up, postage, recordkeeping, and drawing costs associated with
this information collection. This collection also has filing, search, examination,
application size, excess and multiple dependent claims, and non-English specification
fees and surcharges for the late filing of provisional applications, the filing, search, and
examination fees, or the oath or declaration.
Capital Start-up Costs
Applicants who are submitting patent applications containing large computer program
listings or mega tables can choose to submit them on Compact Disk-Read Only
Memory (CD-ROM) or a Compact Disk-Recordable (CD-R), particularly if they choose
not to or cannot submit their patent application through EFS-Web. Therefore, the costs
for purchasing blank CD-R media (CDs), cases and labels for the CDs, and a padded
mailing envelope for shipping the CD, are included in the annual (non-hour) costs for
this collection. Blank CD-R media with plastic jewel cases can be purchased for
approximately $10 for 10 blank CDs, or about $1 per disc. The average cost of
software for labeling CDs, including blank labels and case inserts, is approximately $20.
Padded 8.5 x 11-inch mailing envelopes for shipping the CDs cost approximately $12
for a package of 12, or about $1 per envelope. In sum, the USPTO estimates that the
total costs for the blank CD-R media, the software for labeling, the CDs, and the mailing
envelope are approximately $42 per year. The USPTO estimates that 3 patent
applications will need to be submitted on CD per year, which when multiplied by $42
results in $126 in total costs. Therefore, the USPTO estimates that the total capital
start-up costs for this collection will be $126 per year.
Postage Costs
The applications, the petitions, and the oversized program listing/tables CD submissions
may be submitted by mail through the United States Postal Service. The USPTO
recommends that applicants file initial patent applications (which also include the
continued prosecution, continuation and divisional, continuation-in-part, and provisional
applications) by Express Mail to establish the filing date (otherwise the filing date of the
application will be the date that it is received at the USPTO). The USPTO estimates
that the average cost for sending an initial application by Express Mail will be $18.80,
and that customers filing documents associated with these initial applications may
choose this option to mail their submissions to the USPTO. Therefore, the USPTO
estimates that up to 340,429 submissions per year may be mailed to the USPTO at an
average rate of $18.80, for a postage cost of $6,400,065 for the original new utility,
plant, and design applications, the continuation/divisional of an international application,

utility, plant, and design continuation/divisional applications, the continued prosecution
applications – design (request transmittal and receipt), utility, plant, and design
continuation-in-part applications, and the provisional applications.
The petitions can be sent by first-class mail. The USPTO estimates that the average
first-class postage cost for a mailed submission will be 63 cents, and that customers
filing the petitions may choose to mail their submissions to the USPTO. Therefore, the
USPTO estimates that up to 3,321 submissions per year may be mailed to the USPTO
at an average first-class postage cost of 63 cents, for a total postage cost of $2,092 per
year for the petitions.
In the case of the oversized program listing/table CD submissions, the USPTO
estimates that the average postage cost for these submissions will be 95 cents, to cover
the costs of mailing the CD, the application transmittal form, and the cover letter. The
USPTO estimates that 3 oversized program listing/table CD submissions will be
received per year, for a postage cost of $3 per year, for the oversized program
listing/mega table CD submissions.
The total postage cost for this collection is $6,402,160 per year.
Recordkeeping Costs
There are record keeping costs associated with the oversized program listing/mega
table CD submissions and the electronic filing of new utility, design, and provisional
applications. The USPTO advises applicants who submit applications with oversized
computer program listings or tables on CD to retain a back-up copy of the CD and a
printed copy of the application transmittal form for their records. The USPTO estimates
that it will take an additional 5 minutes for the applicant to produce this back-up CD
copy and 2 minutes to print the copy of the application transmittal form, for a total of 7
minutes (0.12 hours) for each oversized submission. The USPTO estimates that
approximately 3 applications per year will be submitted with oversized computer
program listings or tables, for a total of 0.36 hours per year for retaining the back-up CD
and printed application transmittal form. The USPTO believes that these back-up
copies will be prepared by paraprofessionals with an estimated hourly rate of $90 per
hour, for a recordkeeping cost for these back-up copies of $32 per year.
In addition, the USPTO also strongly advises applicants who file their new utility, design,
and provisional applications electronically to retain a copy of the file submitted to the
USPTO as evidence of authenticity, in addition to keeping the acknowledgment receipt
as clear evidence that the file was received by the USPTO on the date noted. The
USPTO estimates that it will take 5 seconds (0.001 hours) to print and retain a copy of
the acknowledgment receipt and that approximately 199,841 new submissions per year
(145,000 utility, 13,351 design, and 41,490 provisional applications) will use this option,
for a total of 200 hours per year. Using the paraprofessional rate of $90 per hour, the
USPTO estimates that the recordkeeping cost for retaining the acknowledgment receipt
will be $18,000 per year.

The total recordkeeping cost for this collection is $18,032 per year.
Drawing Costs
Patent applicants can submit drawings with the utility, design, plant, and provisional
applications. The actual cost of drawing production is variable, because some
applicants produce their own drawings, while others contract the work out to various
patent illustration firms. Applicants who produce their own drawings will need a
graphics software package, in particular graphic software that can produce both 3D and
2D drawings. Commercial software packages such as TurboCAD 8.0 by ValuSoft can
produce both 2D and 3D drawings. This particular software package costs $79.
Because the USPTO does not collect information to track how many applicants produce
their own drawings, this software cost is provided only as an example and is not
included in the burden estimate for this collection.
Inventors, attorneys, and practitioners can also hire various patent illustration services
firms to create the utility, design, plant, and provisional drawings. For the purpose of
estimating burden for this collection, the USPTO will consider all applicants to have their
drawings prepared by these firms. Estimates for these drawings can vary greatly,
depending on the number of figures that need to be produced, the total number of
pages for the drawings, and the complexity of the drawings. Some firms use “per sheet”
estimates to calculate the total costs, while others use hourly rates.
The utility, plant, and design continuation and divisional applications use the same
drawings as the initial filings, so they are not included in these estimates. The
continuation-in-part applications may use some of the same drawings as the initial
applications and some new drawings may be submitted, so those numbers are included
in these estimates. The drawings for the continued prosecution applications are also
included in the estimates. There are no continuation, divisional, or continuation-in-part
provisional applications.
The USPTO estimates that utility drawings can cost from $40 to $75 per sheet to
produce. Using an average of this cost range, the USPTO estimates that it can cost
$58 per sheet to produce utility drawings and that on average, 11 sheets of drawings
are submitted, for an average cost of $638 to produce the utility drawings. Out of
307,720 utility applications submitted per year, the USPTO estimates that 91% or
280,025 applications will be submitted with drawings. The USPTO estimates that at
least $178,655,950 will be added to the total non-hour cost burden.
The USPTO estimates that design drawings can cost from $50 to $85 per sheet to
produce. Using an average of this cost range, the USPTO estimates that it can cost
$68 per sheet to produce design drawings and that on average 4.8 sheets of drawings
are submitted, for an average cost of $326 to produce design drawings. Out of 27,440
design applications submitted per year, the USPTO estimates that 100% will be
submitted with drawings. The USPTO estimates that at least $8,945,440 will be added
to the total non-hour cost burden.

Plant drawings are less complex to produce than utility and design drawings. The
USPTO could not find costs from the various patent illustration firms that the agency
researched for plant drawings. Based on this, the USPTO believes that the industry
does not have a range of costs for these drawings and that the firms may charge clients
their lowest rate for plant drawings. The lowest such rate that the USPTO found
through research was $35 per sheet. On average, 2 sheets of drawings are submitted
per application, for an average cost of $70 to produce plant drawings. Out of 1,470
plant applications submitted per year, the USPTO estimates that 100% will be submitted
with drawings. The USPTO estimates that at least $102,900 will be added to the total
non-hour cost burden.
Provisional applications are also submitted with drawings. The USPTO could not find
costs for the provisional drawings from the various patent illustration firms that the
agency researched. Provisional applications permit the applicant to establish a patent
filing date for his or her invention and to assess the marketability of that invention for
one year. This allows the applicant to determine whether it will be economically feasible
to market the invention without the higher cost of filing a non-provisional application.
Applicants must submit a non-provisional application within 12 months after the filing
date of the provisional application or else the provisional application will expire.
Based on these characteristics, the USPTO believes that patent illustration firms could
charge between $40 to $75 per sheet to produce provisional drawings. Using an
average of this cost range, the USPTO estimates that it can cost $58 per sheet to
produce these drawings. On average, 7.5 sheets of drawings are submitted per
application, for an average cost of $435 to produce provisional drawings. Out of
138,170 provisional applications submitted per year, the USPTO estimates that 78% or
107,773 applications will be submitted with drawings. The USPTO estimates that at
least $46,881,255 will be added to the total non-hour cost burden.
Based on these estimates for patent illustration firms producing drawings for
utility, design, plant, and provisional applications, the USPTO estimates that at
least $234,585,545 will be added to the total non-hour cost burden.
There is also annual nonhour cost burden in the way of filing fees associated with this
collection. The filing, search, and examination fees for the utility, plant, design, and
provisional applications (including the continuation and divisional, continued
prosecution, and continuation-in-part applications) are determined by which filing status
(other entity or small entity) the applicant has selected. The filing fees for the
electronically-filed new utility applications for small entities are $75, but for the rest of
the applications the fees are the same as those for the paper applications. The small
entity status does not apply to the petition to accept delayed priority claims or to the
petition to accept non-signing inventors or legal representatives/filing by other than all
the inventors or a person not the inventor. The petition under 37 CFR 1.6(f) to accord
the application under 37 CFR 1.495(b) a national stage entry date does not have a filing
fee.

The total estimated filing costs of $450,141,995 for this collection are calculated
in the following tables.
Table 4 shows the annual filing, search, and examination fee cost burden for applicants
filing the various applications and petitions. The USPTO estimates the cost burden
associated with the various fees to be $344,532,770.
Table 4: Filing, Search, and Examination Fees – Nonhour Cost Burden
Item

Responses
(yr)
(a)

Filing Fee

Search
Fee

Examination
Fee

Total Fee
(b)

Total Non-Hour
Cost Burden
(yr)
(a) x (b)

Original New Utility Applications
– No Application Data Sheet –
Other Entity

81,200

$300.00

$500.00

$200.00

$1,000.00

$81,200,000.00

Original New Utility Applications
– No Application Data Sheet –
Small Entity

34,800

$150.00

$250.00

$100.00

$500.00

$17,400,000.00

Electronic Original New Utility
Applications – No Application
Data Sheet – Other Entity

81,200

$300.00

$500.00

$200.00

$1,000.00

$81,200,000.00

Electronic Original New Utility
Applications – No Application
Data Sheet – Small Entity

34,800

$75.00

$250.00

$100.00

$425.00

$14,790,000.00

Original New Plant Applications
– No Application Data Sheet –
Other Entity

780

$200.00

$300.00

$160.00

$660.00

$514,800.00

Original New Plant Applications
– No Application Data Sheet –
Small Entity

335

$100.00

$150.00

$80.00

$330.00

$110,550.00

Original New Design
Applications – No Application
Data Sheet – Other Entity

5,232

$200.00

$100.00

$130.00

$430.00

$2,249,760.00

Original New Design
Applications – No Application
Data Sheet – Small Entity

5,445

$100.00

$50.00

$65.00

$215.00

$1,170,675.00

Electronic Original New Design
Applications – No Application
Data Sheet – Other Entity

5,232

$200.00

$100.00

$130.00

$430.00

$2,249,760.00

Electronic Original New Design
Applications – No Application
Data Sheet – Small Entity

5,446

$100.00

$50.00

$65.00

$215.00

$1,170,890.00

Original New Utility Applications
– Application Data Sheet –
Other Entity

20,300

$300.00

$500.00

$200.00

$1,000.00

$20,300,000.00

Original New Utility Applications
– Application Data Sheet –
Small Entity

8,700

$150.00

$250.00

$100.00

$500.00

$4,350,000.00

Electronic Original New Utility
Applications – Application Data
Sheet – Other Entity

20,300

$300.00

$500.00

$200.00

$1,000.00

$20,300,000.00

Electronic Original New Utility
Applications – Application Data
Sheet – Small Entity

8,700

$75.00

$250.00

$100.00

$425.00

$3,697,500.00

Original New Plant Applications
– Application Data Sheet –
Other Entity

200

$200.00

$300.00

$160.00

$660.00

$132,000.00

Original New Plant Applications
– Application Data Sheet –
Small Entity

$100.00

$150.00

$80.00

$330.00

$28,050.00

Original New Design
Applications – Application Data
Sheet – Other Entity

1,309

$200.00

$100.00

$130.00

$430.00

$562,870.00

Original New Design
Applications – Application Data
Sheet – Small Entity

1,363

$100.00

$50.00

$65.00

$215.00

$293,045.00

Electronic New Design
Applications – Application Data
Sheet – Other Entity

1,310

$200.00

$100.00

$130.00

$430.00

$563,300.00

Electronic New Design
Applications – Application Data
Sheet – Small Entity

1,363

$100.00

$50.00

$65.00

$215.00

$293,045.00

Continuation/Divisional of an
International Application – No
Application Data Sheet – Other
Entity

5,990

$300.00

$500.00

$200.00

$1,000.00

$5,990,000.00

Continuation/Divisional of an
International Application – No
Application Data Sheet – Small
Entity

1,570

$150.00

$250.00

$100.00

$500.00

$785,000.00

Utility Continuation/Divisional
Applications – Other Entity

40,420

$300.00

$500.00

$200.00

$1,000.00

$40,420,000.00

Utility Continuation/Divisional
Applications – Small Entity

16,510

$150.00

$250.00

$100.00

$500.00

$8,255,000.00

Plant Continuation/Divisional
Applications – Other Entity

160

$200.00

$300.00

$160.00

$660.00

$105,600.00

Plant Continuation/Divisional
Applications – Small Entity

$100.00

$150.00

$80.00

$330.00

$23,100.00

Design Continuation/Divisional
Applications – Other Entity

365

$200.00

$100.00

$130.00

$430.00

$156,950.00

Design Continuation/Divisional
Applications – Small Entity

385

$100.00

$50.00

$65.00

$215.00

$82,775.00

Continued Prosecution
Applications – Design (Request
Transmittal and Receipt) – Other
Entity

125

$200.00

$100.00

$130.00

$430.00

$53,750.00

Continued Prosecution
Applications – Design (Request
Transmittal and Receipt) – Small
Entity

135

$100.00

$50.00

$65.00

$215.00

$29,025.00

12,580

$300.00

$500.00

$200.00

$1,000.00

$12,580,000.00

Utility Continuation-in-Part
Applications – Other Entity

Utility Continuation-in-Part
Applications – Small Entity

5,140

$150.00

$250.00

$100.00

$500.00

$2,570,000.00

Plant Continuation-in-Part
Applications – Other Entity

$200.00

$300.00

$160.00

$660.00

$33,000.00

Plant Continuation-in-Part
Applications – Small Entity

$100.00

$150.00

$80.00

$330.00

$6,600.00

Design Continuation-in-Part
Applications – Other Entity

235

$200.00

$100.00

$130.00

$430.00

$101,050.00

Design Continuation-in-Part
Applications – Small Entity

245

$100.00

$50.00

$65.00

$215.00

$52,675.00

Provisional Application for
Patent Cover Sheets – Other
Entity

36,500

$200.00

N/A

$200.00

$7,300,000.00

Provisional Application for
Patent Cover Sheets – Small
Entity

60,180

$100.00

N/A

$100.00

$6,018,000.00

Electronic Provisional
Application for Patent Cover
Sheets – Other Entity

15,690

$200.00

N/A

$200.00

$3,138,000.00

Electronic Provisional
Application for Patent Cover
Sheets – Small Entity

25,800

$100.00

N/A

$100.00

$2,580,000.00

$1,300.00

N/A

$1,300.00

$1,196,000.00

$200.00

N/A

$200.00

$480,000.00

N/A

$00.00

------------

-------------------

---------------

$344,532,770.00

Petition to Accept
Unintentionally Delayed Priority
Claim

920

Petition to Accept Non-Signing
Inventors or Legal
Representatives/Filing by Other
Than all the Inventors or a
Person not the Inventor

2,400

Petition under 37 CFR 1.6(f) to
accord the Application under 37
CFR 1.495(b) a National Stage
Entry Date

Totals

543,591

--------------

Table 5 calculates the additional fees incurred when an application is filed with
additional sheets or excess claims. The USPTO estimates that these fees apply to
311,905 of the 543,591 total applications filed per year. This table is a subset of Table
4 and adds an additional $89,020,075 to the annualized (non-hour) costs shown in
Table 4. It does not, however, change the number of responses. These fees are also
determined by the filing status.

Table 5: Application Size and Excess Claims Fees – Nonhour Cost Burden
Item

Responses
(yr)
(a)

Filing Fee for
Additional Sheets
and Claims

Average
Fee (b)

Total Non-Hour
Cost Burden
(yr)
(a) x (b)

Provisional Application Size Fee for Each
Provisional Application for Patent Cover Sheet, filed
for Each Additional 50 Sheets Exceeding 100
Sheets – Other Entity

2,400

$200.00 per each 50
sheets over 100

$500.00

$1,200,000.00

Provisional Application Size Fee for Each Provisional
Application for Patent Cover Sheet, filed for Each
Additional 50 Sheets Exceeding 100 Sheets – Small
Entity

2,300

$100.00 per each 50
sheets over 100

$260.00

$598,000.00

Utility and Plant Applications, with independent
claims in excess of 3 – Other Entity

95,000

$200.00 for each
claim over 3

$400.00

$38,000,000.00

Utility and Plant Applications, with independent
claims in excess of 3 – Small Entity

36,000

$100.00 for each
claim over 3

$200.00

$7,200,000.00

Utility and Plant Applications, filed with Claims in
Excess of 20 – Other Entity

115,000

$50.00 for each
claim over 20

$200.00

$23,000,000.00

Utility and Plant Applications, filed with Claims in
Excess of 20 – Small Entity

50,000

$25.00 for each
claim over 20

$300.00

$15,000,000.00

Utility Application Size Fee for Each Original New
Utility Application, filed with each additional 50
sheets exceeding 100 sheets – Other Entity

7,500

$250.00 for each
additional 50 sheets
over 100

$425.00

$3,187,500.00

Utility Application Size Fee for Each Original New
Utility Application, filed with each additional 50
sheets exceeding 100 Sheets – Small Entity

3,500

$125.00 for each
additional 50 sheets
over 100

$225.00

$787,500.00

Plant Application Size Fee for Each Original New
Plant Application, filed with Each Additional 50
Sheets Exceeding 100 Sheets – Other Entity

$250.00 for each
additional 50 sheets
over 100

$275.00

$6,875.00

Plant Application Size Fee for Each Original New
Plant Application, filed with Each Additional 50
Sheets Exceeding 100 Sheets – Small Entity

$125.00 for each
additional 50 sheets
over 100

$265.00

$2,650.00

Design Application Size Fee for Each Original New
Design Application, filed for each Additional 50
Sheets that Exceeds 100 Sheets – Other Entity

110

$250.00 for each
additional 50 sheets
over 100

$265.00

$29,150.00

Design Application Size Fee for Each Original New
Design Application, filed for each Additional 50
Sheets that Exceeds 100 Sheets – Small Entity

$125.00 for each
additional 50 sheets
over 100

$140.00

$8,400.00

---------------

$89,020,075.00

Total

311,905

----------------------

Table 6 calculates the surcharges and fees incurred when an application, the search or
examination fee, or the oath or declaration is filed late, when the application is filed with
multiple dependent claims, or when the application is filed with a non-English
specification. The USPTO estimates that these fees apply to 123,040 of the 543,591
total applications filed per year. This table is a subset of Table 4 and adds an additional
$16,589,150 to the annualized (non-hour) costs shown in Table 4. It does not, however,
change the number of responses. With the exception of the fee for the non-English
specification, the remaining fees are determined by the filing status.

Table 6: Fees for Multiple Dependent Claims and Non-English Specifications and Surcharges for
Late Filings
Item

Responses
(yr)
(a)

Surcharge Fee for
Late Filing, Multiple
Dependent Claims,
or Non-English
Specification Fees

Total Non-Hour
Cost Burden
(yr)
(a) x (b)

Surcharge for Late Filing of Provisional Application for Patent
Cover Sheets – Other Entity

3,910

$50.00

$195,500.00

Surcharge for Late Filing of Provisional Application for Patent
Cover Sheets – Small Entity

5,650

$25.00

$141,250.00

Utility and Plant Applications, filed with Multiple Dependent
Claims – Other Entity

8,000

$360.00

$2,880,000.00

Utility and Plant Applications, filed with Multiple Dependent
Claims – Small Entity

3,600

$180.00

$648,000.00

90,000

$130.00

$11,700,000.00

Utility, Plant, and Design Applications, filed with a Surcharge for
Late Filing, Search, or Examination Fee, or Oath/Declaration –
Small Entity

8,000

$65.00

$520,000.00

Non-English Specification

3,880

$130.00

$504,400.00

123,040

----------------------

$16,589,150.00

Utility, Plant, and Design Applications, filed with a Surcharge for
Late Filing, Search or Examination Fee, or Oath/Declaration –
Other Entity

Totals

The USPTO estimates that the total non-hour respondent cost burden for this
collection, in the form of capital start-up, postage, recordkeeping, and drawing
costs, in addition to the fees and surcharges, is $691,147,858 per year.
14.

Annual Cost to the Federal Government

The USPTO estimates that it takes a GS-5, step 1 approximately one hour to process
original new utility, plant, and design applications, the continuations and divisionals of
international applications, the continuation and divisional applications, and the
continuation-in-part applications. The USPTO estimates that it takes a GS-5, step 1
approximately 36 minutes (0.6 hours) to process a continued prosecution application,
and approximately 30 minutes (0.5 hours) to process a provisional application. The
USPTO estimates that it takes a GS-5, step 1, 18 minutes (0.3 hours) to process the
petitions to accept unintentionally delayed priority claims and to accept non-signing
inventors or legal representatives, while it takes 6 minutes (0.1 hours) to process the
petitions under 37 CFR 1.6(f) to accord the application under 37 CFR 1.495(b) a
national stage entry date.
The current hourly rate for a GS-5, step 1 is $14.56. When 30% is added to account for
a fully loaded hourly rate (benefits and overhead), the cost per hour for a GS-5, step 1 is
$14.56 + $4.37, for a rate of $18.93.

Table 7 calculates the processing hours and costs of this information collection to the
Federal Government:
Table 7: Burden Hour/Burden Cost to the Federal Government
Item

Hours
(a)

Response
s
(yr)
(b)

Burden
(hrs/yr)
(c)
(a) x (b)

Rate
($/hr)
(d)

Total Cost
($/hr)
(e)
(c) x (d)

Original New Utility Applications – No Application
Data Sheet

1.0

116,000

$18.93

$2,195,880.00

Electronic Original New Utility Applications – No
Application Data Sheet

1.0

116,000

$18.93

$2,195,880.00

Original New Plant Applications – No Application
Data Sheet

1.0

1,115

$18.93

$21,107.00

Original New Design Applications – No Application
Data Sheet

1.0

10,677

$18.93

$202,116.00

Electronic Original Design Applications – No
Application Data Sheet

1.0

10,678

$18.93

$202,135.00

Original New Utility Applications – Application Data
Sheet

1.0

29,000

$18.93

$548,970.00

Electronic Original New Utility Applications –
Application Data Sheet

1.0

29,000

$18.93

$548,970.00

Original New Plant Applications – Application Data
Sheet

1.0

285

$18.93

$5,395.00

Original New Design Applications – Application Data
Sheet

1.0

2,672

$18.93

$50,581.00

Electronic New Design Applications – Application
Data Sheet

1.0

2,673

$18.93

$50,600.00

Continuation/Divisional of an International
Application – No Application Data Sheet

1.0

7,560

$18.93

$143,111.00

Utility Continuation/Divisional Applications

1.0

56,930

$18.93

$1,077,685.00

Plant Continuation/Divisional Applications

1.0

230

$18.93

$4,354.00

Design Continuation/Divisional Applications

1.0

750

$18.93

$14,198.00

Continued Prosecution Applications – Design
(Request Transmittal and Receipt)

0.6

260

156

$18.93

$2,953.00

Utility Continuation-in-Part Applications

1.0

17,720

$18.93

$335,440.00

Plant Continuation-in-Part Applications

1.0

$18.93

$1,325.00

Design Continuation-in-Part Applications

1.0

480

$18.93

$9,086.00

Provisional Application for Patent Cover Sheet

0.5

96,680

48,340

$18.93

$915,076.00

Electronic Provisional Application for Patent Cover
Sheet

0.5

41,490

20,745

$18.93

$392,703.00

Petition to Accept Unintentionally Delayed Priority
Claim

0.3

920

276

$18.93

$5,225.00

Petition to Accept Non-Signing Inventors or Legal
Representatives/Filing by Other Than All the
Inventors or a Person Not the Inventor

0.3

2,400

720

$18.93

$13,630.00

Petition Under 37 CFR 1.6(f) to Accord the
Application under 37 CFR 1.495(b) a National Stage
Entry Date

0.1

$18.93

$19.00

543,591

472,078

Total

- - - - -

$8,936,439.00

The USPTO’s total estimated cost for processing the information in this collection
is estimated at $8,936,439 per year.
15.

Reason for Change in Burden

Summary of Changes Since the Previous Renewal
The OMB approved the renewal for this information collection on July 14, 2003, with
454,287 responses, 4,171,568 burden hours, and $258,115,506 in annualized (nonhour) costs. On December 22, 2003, OMB approved the information collection package
supporting the proposed rulemaking, “Changes to Support the Implementation of the
United States Patent and Trademark Office 21st Century Plan (RIN 0651-AB64). This
proposed rule did not impact the responses and burden hours for this collection, but it
did increase the annualized (non-hour) cost burden to $493,593,081. The OMB
approved another information collection package supporting a proposed rulemaking,
“Changes to Implement the Patent Search Fee Refund Provisions of the Consolidated
Appropriations Act, 2005” (RIN-AB79) on August 29, 2005. This also did not impact the
responses and burden hours, but it did increase the annualized (non-hour) cost burden
to $575,550,456. On September 20, 2005, OMB approved a change worksheet adding
the EFS-Web version of the Application Data Sheet into the collection, but it did not
change the total burden or annualized (non-hour) costs for this collection.
With this renewal, the USPTO estimates that the total burden and annualized (nonhour) costs for this collection will be 543,591 responses, 10,677,624 burden hours, and
$691,147,858 in annualized costs. This is an increase of 89,304 responses, 6,506,056
burden hours, and $115,597,402 in annualized costs over the currently approved
burden for this collection. The increases in the responses, burden hours, and
annualized (non-hour) costs are due to both program changes and administrative
adjustments.
Changes in Burden Estimates Since the 60-Day Federal Register Notice
In the 60-Day Federal Register Notice published on September 12, 2006 for this
renewal, the USPTO reported that this collection would have an estimated 543,590
responses, 4,748,122 estimated burden hours, and $1,443,429,088 in estimated
respondent burden. The USPTO also estimated that there would be $695,587,260 in
capital start-up, postage, recordkeeping, and drawing costs and fees associated with
this collection per year. After the publication of the 60-Day Notice, the USPTO
determined that these reported estimates would need to be revised due to new
24

response and burden estimates and the addition of a previously overlooked
requirement.
An existing requirement, Petition under 37 1.6(f) to Accord the Application under 37
CFR 1.495(b) a National Stage Entry Date,” that was previously overlooked, was added
into the collection. The USPTO estimates that 1 petition will be submitted per year, and
that this will increase the estimated number of responses reported for this collection in
the 60-Day Federal Register Notice to 543,591.
The estimated annual burden hours have also increased due to reestimates of the
amount of time that it takes the public to complete these applications. Previously, when
the utility, design, and plant applications were grouped together, the estimated
completion times for all of the applications in a particular group ranged from 10 hours
and 45 minutes to 10 hours and 36 minutes. In the 60-Day Notice, the original
estimated completion times were kept for the applications that are now reported
separately. Since then, the USPTO has revised the completion times to more
accurately reflect the amount of time that it takes to complete each type of application.
The estimated completion times were revised for all of the applications except for the
continued prosecution applications. The USPTO estimates that the petition under 37
CFR 1.6(f) will take 30 minutes to complete and that it will add 1 hour to the total burden
hours. The USPTO estimates that 5,929,502 additional burden hours will be added to
the collection per year, bringing the total burden hours to 10,677,624.
While the hourly rate used to calculate the total cost burden remains the same, the
addition of the petition and the revised completion estimates also changed the total cost
burden now reported for this collection. The USPTO estimates that the total cost
burden will increase by $1,802,568,608.
The USPTO now believes that applicants will file more of their applications electronically
than was originally estimated. This has changed the percentage of applications filed
electronically as opposed to paper filings, which in turn has decreased the postage
costs and the fees associated with the applications and increased the recordkeeping
costs. The USPTO estimates that the postage costs reported in the 60-Day Notice will
decrease by $1,190,717 per year and that the fees will decrease by $3,254,355 per
year. The USPTO estimates that the recordkeeping costs associated with the
electronically-filed applications will increase by $5,670.
Changes in Respondent Cost Burden
The respondent cost burden has increased since the previous renewal due to increased
submissions and an increase in the hourly rate. The USPTO believes that all of these
applications and petitions will be completed by associate attorneys. Based on figures
provided by the Committee on Economics of Legal Practice of the American Intellectual
Property Law Association, the estimated hourly billing rate for the associate attorneys
has increased from $252 to $304.

The total respondent cost burden for the currently approved information collection is
$1,051,234,914. With this renewal, the USPTO estimates that the total respondent cost
burden will increase by $2,194,762,782, to $3,245,997,696 per year.
Changes in Responses and Burden Hours
The USPTO estimates that the number of responses submitted annually for this
collection will increase by 89,304, from 454,287 to 543,591 responses. In addition, the
USPTO estimates that the total burden hours for this collection will increase by
6,506,056 hours, from 4,171,568 hours to 10,677,624 burden hours per year. These
changes are due to both program changes and administrative adjustments, as follows:
•

The USPTO now accepts original design applications electronically through EFSWeb. The USPTO estimates that 13,351 design applications will be submitted
electronically per year. As with the paper filings, the USPTO estimates that design
applications without application data sheets that are filed electronically will take 5
hours to complete, while design applications with application data sheets that are
filed electronically will take 4 hours and 48 minutes to complete. The USPTO
estimates that the ability to file design applications electronically will add 66,220
burden hours to the collection per year. Therefore, this collection takes a net
burden increase of 66,220 hours as a program change.

•

While working on this renewal submission, the USPTO discovered a petition,
Petition under 37 CFR 1.6(f) to Accord the Application under 37 CFR 1.495(b) a
National Stage Entry Date, that needed to be added into this collection. This petition
is an existing requirement that was overlooked in previous submissions. The
USPTO estimates that 1 petition will be submitted per year and that it will increase
the burden hours for this collection by 1 hour per year. The USPTO estimates that it
will take 30 minutes to complete the petition. Therefore, this collection takes a
net burden increase of 1 hour as an administrative adjustment.

•

The USPTO believes that the number of provisional applications for patent cover
sheets filed in paper per year will increase by 6,891 responses, from 89,789 to
96,680 responses per year, which will also increase the burden by 248,488 hours,
from 718,312 to 966,800 burden hours per year. This is due to increased number of
applications submitted and a reestimate of the amount of time that it takes to
complete the application. Therefore, this collection takes a net burden increase
of 248,488 hours as an administrative adjustment.

•

The USPTO believes that more applicants will choose to submit their provisional
applications for patent cover sheets electronically through EFS-Web. The USPTO
estimates that the number of applications submitted electronically will increase by
40,850 responses, from 640 to 41,490 responses per year. The burden will also
increase by 409,780 hours, from 5,120 to 414,900 burden hours per year. This is
due to the increased number of provisional applications filed electronically and a
reestimate of the amount of time that it takes to complete the application.

Therefore, this collection takes a net burden increase of 409,780 hours as an
administrative adjustment.
•

The USPTO believes that the number of petitions to accept unintentionally delayed
priority claims filed per year will increase by 815 responses, from 105 to 920
responses per year, which in turn will increase the burden by 815 hours, from 105 to
920 burden hours per year. Therefore, this collection takes a net burden
increase of 815 hours as an administrative adjustment.

•

The USPTO believes that the number of petitions to accept non-signing inventors or
legal representatives/filing by other than all the inventors or a person not the inventor
will increase by 600 responses, from 1,800 to 2,400 responses per year and that in
turn will increase the burden by 600 hours, from 1,800 to 2,400 burden hours per
year. Therefore, this collection takes a net burden increase of 600 hours as an
administrative adjustment.

•

In the original EFS, applicants could not submit applications that were larger than 10
megabytes. Applications larger than 10 megabytes were copied onto a CD, which
would then be mailed or hand delivered to the USPTO. In EFS-Web, the maximum
size for the applications is 25 megabytes. A maximum of 60 electronic files can be
filed in any one submission. If the application contains more than 60 files, the
submission can be broken up so that 60 or fewer files are submitted in the initial
EFS-Web filing, with the remainder of the files submitted later. With these changes,
applicants no longer have to use the CDs to submit their oversized electronic
applications. Consequently, the requirement for the CD submissions of oversized
new utility and provisional applications that cannot be submitted electronically via
EFS has been deleted from this collection. This deletes 3 responses and 1 burden
hour per year from the total burden for this collection. Therefore, this collection
takes a net burden decrease of 1 hour as a program change.

•

In the previous renewal, the various new utility, plant, and design applications were
all grouped together. In this renewal submission, the utility, design, and plant
applications have been broken out separately, which allows the USPTO to show
exactly how many of the different applications have been filed and makes it easier to
account for the electronic filings. In addition, the USPTO determined that the
different types of utility, design, and plant applications have different estimated
completion times. Since the different types of applications were grouped together,
they all had the same completion times. Separating the applications allows the
USPTO to update the completion times to more accurately represent how much time
it takes to complete these different types of applications. By comparing the total
responses for the various utility, plant, and design applications in this submission
against the application groupings in the currently approved collection, the USPTO
estimates that the number of applications filed will increase by 26,802, from 361,687
to 388,489 responses per year. This in turn will increase the burden by 5,780,154
hours, from 3,446,125 to 9,226,279 burden hours per year. Therefore, this

collection takes a net burden increase of 5,780,154 hours as an administrative
adjustment.
•

The USPTO believes that fewer applicants will file continued prosecution
applications – design (request transmittal and receipt) over the next 3 years. The
USPTO estimates that the response will decrease by 3, from 263 to 260 responses
per year, while the burden will decrease by 1 hour, from 105 to 104 burden hours
per year. Therefore, this collection takes a net burden reduction of 1 hour as
an administrative adjustment.

The USPTO estimates that the net total burden for this collection will increase by
6,506,056 hours, from 4,171,568 to 10,677,624 burden hours per year. The USPTO
estimates that 1 hour will be reduced and 66,220 hours added to this collection as a
result of program changes, for a net total increase of 66,219 burden hours per year.
The USPTO estimates that 1 hour will be reduced and 6,439,838 hours added to this
collection as a result of administrative adjustments, for a net total burden increase of
6,439,837 burden hours per year. In sum, this information collection has a net
burden increase of 6,506,056 hours per year, due to increases of 66,219 and
6,439,837 hours resulting from program changes and administrative adjustments,
respectively.
Changes in Annual (Non-Hour) Costs
For this renewal, the USPTO estimates that the annual (non-hour) costs for this
collection will increase by $115,597,402, from $575,550,456 to $691,147,858 per year.
This change is due to both program changes and administrative adjustments, as
follows:
•

The USPTO believes that fewer provisional applications for patent cover sheets will
be filed in paper and electronically by other entities during the next 3 years. This will
reduce the fees associated with the provisional applications filed by other entities by
$4,030,600, from $14,468,600 to $10,438,000 per year. Conversely, the USPTO
expects that small entities will file more provisional applications for patent cover
sheets in paper and electronically. This will increase the fees associated with the
provisional applications filed by small entities by $6,789,400, from $1,808,600 to
$8,598,000 per year. Therefore, this collection has a net total increase of
$2,758,800 in annual (non-hour) fees due to an administrative adjustment.

•

The USPTO believes that fewer utility applications (including those filed with and
without an application data sheet, continuation/divisional of an international
application without an application data sheet, continuation/divisional, and
continuation-in-part applications) will be filed in paper and electronically by other
entities during the next 3 years. This will reduce the fees associated with the utility
applications filed by other entities by $11,147,000, from $273,137,000 to
$261,990,000 per year. Conversely, the USPTO expects that small entities will file
more utility applications. This will increase the fees associated with utility

applications filed by small entities by $17,705,000, from $34,142,500 to $51,847,500
per year. Therefore, this collection has a net total increase of $6,558,000 in
annual (non-hour) fee costs due to an administrative adjustment.
•

The USPTO believes that both small and other entities will file more plant
applications (including those filed with and without an application data sheet,
continuation/divisional, and continuation-in-part applications) during the next 3 years.
This will increase the fees associated with the plant applications by $383,460, from
$570,240 to $953,700 per year. Therefore, this collection has a net total
increase of $383,460 in annual (non-hour) costs due to an administrative
adjustment.

•

The USPTO believes that fewer design applications (including those filed with and
without an application data sheet, continuation/divisional, continued prosecution
applications – design (request transmittal and receipt), and continuation-in-part
applications) will be filed in paper and electronically by other entities during the next
3 years. This will reduce the fees associated with design applications filed by other
entities by $793,780, from $6,731,220 to $5,937,440. Conversely, the USPTO
expects that small entities will file more design applications. This will increase the
fees associated with design applications filed by small entities by $2,250,620, from
$841,510 to $3,092,130. Therefore, this collection has a net total increase of
$1,456,840 in annual (non-hour) fee costs due to an administrative adjustment.

•

The USPTO believes that more petitions to accept unintentionally delayed priority
claims will be filed during the next 3 years. This will increase the fees associated
with this petition by $1,059,500, from $136,500 to $1,196,000 per year. Therefore,
this collection has a net total increase of $1,059,500 in annual (non-hour) costs
due to an administrative adjustment.

•

The USPTO believes that more petitions to accept non-signing inventors or legal
representatives/filing by other than all the inventors or a person not the inventor will
be filed during the next 3 years. This will increase the fees associated with this
petition by $120,000, from $360,000 to $480,000 per year. Therefore, this
collection has a net total increase of $120,000 in annual (non-hour) fee costs
due to an administrative adjustment.

•

The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005 introduced a new application size fee for
provisional, utility, plant, and design applications filed under 35 U.S.C. § 111 on or
after December 8, 2004 that have specifications and drawings that exceed 100
sheets of paper. The fees vary for the different applications and are based on the
filing status of the applicant. The USPTO estimates that these fees will apply to
15,905 of the total 543,591 total applications filed per year. This will increase the
total fees associated with this collection by $5,820,075. Therefore, this collection
has a net total increase of $5,820,075 in annual (non-hour) fee costs due to a
program change.

•

In addition to the filing, examination, search, and application size fees, there are also
fees for excess claims, multiple dependent claims, surcharges for late filings, and
fees for non-English specifications. While working on the renewal, it was discovered
that these existing fees were not covered in the previous submissions of this
collection. The fees vary for the different applications and are based on the filing
status of the applicant (with the exception of the non-English specification). The
USPTO estimates that these fees will apply to 419,040 of the total 543,591 total
applications filed per year. This will increase the total fees associated with this
collection by $99,789,150. Therefore, this collection has a net total increase of
$99,789,150 in annual (non-hour) fee costs due to an administrative
adjustment.

•

Previously, applications filed electronically through EFS that exceeded 10
megabytes could only be submitted to the USPTO on a CD. Since then, a new webbased version of EFS called EFS-Web was released. In EFS-Web, the maximum
size for the electronically-filed applications is 25 megabytes, the submission can
contain up to 60 files, and applications that exceed 60 files can be broken down into
groups of 60 files or less and filed through EFS-Web. Since EFS-Web can handle
larger submissions than in the past, the USPTO does not foresee a need for
applicants to file EFS-Web submissions on CD, although applications containing
large computer program listings or mega tables may need to be submitted on CD.
The USPTO now estimates that only 3 applications per year will need to be filed on
CD, for a reduction of 3 responses. The USPTO estimates that this will reduce the
capital start-up costs for this collection by $126, from $252 to $126. Therefore, this
collection has a reduction of $126 in annual (non-hour) capital start-up costs
due to a program change.

•

The USPTO believes that more applicants will choose to submit their patent
applications electronically through EFS-Web instead of submitting them in paper.
The USPTO believes that this switch will reduce $1,601,037 from the postage costs
associated with this collection. This reduction offsets an increase of $1,159 due to
the addition of an overlooked requirement to the collection and increases in the
postage fees. Therefore, this collection takes a net burden reduction of
$1,599,878 in annual (non-hour) postage costs as an administrative
adjustment.

•

For patent applications that are filed electronically through EFS-Web, the USPTO
strongly recommends that applicants print and file a copy of the acknowledgement
receipt as proof of when the application was accepted by EFS-Web. Previously, the
USPTO only collected original new utility and provisional applications electronically,
but now applicants also have the ability to file their original new design applications
through EFS-Web. The USPTO estimates that this will increase the recordkeeping
costs associated with this collection by $1,170 per year. Since the USPTO believes
that more applicants will choose to submit their patent applications electronically
through EFS-Web instead of submitting them in paper, the USPTO estimates that an
additional $16,710 will be added to the recordkeeping costs. In addition, the USPTO

estimates that $21 will be added as a result of an increase in the paraprofessional
rate from $30 to $90 for the back-up copies of applications that contain oversized
computer program listings or mega tables on CD. The USPTO estimates a net total
burden increase of $17,901 associated with the recordkeeping costs for this
collection. Therefore, this collection has a net burden increase of $17,901 in
annual (non-hour) recordkeeping costs, with $1,170 due to a program change
and $16,731 due to an administrative adjustment.
•

Some of the utility, design, plant, and provisional applications are filed with drawings,
which many applicants contract out to patent illustration firms. The USPTO believes
that fewer utility applications with drawings will be filed over the next 3 years, but
that more design, plant, and provisional applications containing drawings will be
filed. Based on the projected increased submissions of the design, plant, and
provisional applications, the USPTO estimates that $18,800,502 will be added to the
drawing costs. The USPTO expects that this increase, however, will be offset by the
reduction in the drawing costs for the utility applications. The USPTO estimates that
$19,566,822 will be reduced from the drawing costs. Overall, the USPTO estimates
that the net total reduction in the drawing costs for this collection will be $766,320.
Therefore, this collection has a net total burden reduction of $766,320 in
annual (non-hour) drawing costs due to an administrative adjustment.

The USPTO estimates that this submission will increase the total net burden in annual
(non-hour) costs for this collection by $115,597,402. The USPTO estimates that
$5,821,245 will be added to and $126 reduced from this collection as a result of
program changes, for a total net burden increase of $5,821,119 in annual (non-hour)
costs. The USPTO estimates that $112,142,481 will be added to and $2,366,198
reduced from this collection as a result of administrative changes, for a total net burden
increase of $109,776,283 in annual (non-hour) costs. In sum, this information
collection has a total net burden increase of $115,597,402 in annual (non-hour)
costs, due to increases of $5,821,119 in program changes and $109,776,283 in
administrative adjustments.
16.

Project Schedule

There is no plan to publish this information for statistical use.
17.

Display of Expiration Date of OMB Approval

The forms in this information collection will display the OMB Control Number and the
OMB expiration date.
18.

Exception to the Certificate Statement

This collection of information does not include any exceptions to the certificate
statement.

COLLECTIONS OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL METHODS

This collection of information does not employ statistical methods.

LIST OF ATTACHMENTS
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EFS-Web screenshots for registered/unregistered users
The USPTO Information Quality Guidelines
PTO/SB/06 Patent Application Fee Determination Record (Substitute for Form PTO875)
PTO/SB/07 Multiple Dependent Claim Fee Calculation Sheet (Substitute for Form PTO1360; For Use with Form PTO/SB/06)
PTO/SB/17 Fee Transmittal Form
PTO/SB/05 Utility Patent Application Transmittal
PTO/SB/18 Design Patent Application Transmittal
PTO/SB/19 Plant Patent Application Transmittal
PTO/SB/01 Declaration for Utility or Design Patent Application (37 CFR 1.63)
PTO/SB/02A Declaration – Additional Inventors – Supplemental Sheet and
PTO/SB/02B Declaration – Supplemental Priority Data Sheet
PTO/SB/02LR Declaration Supplemental Sheet for Legal Representatives (35 U.S.C. §
117) on Behalf of a Deceased or Incapacitated Inventor
PTO/SB/03 Plant Patent Application (35 U.S.C. § 161) Declaration (37 CFR 1.63)
PTO/SB/04 Supplemental Declaration for Utility or Design Patent Application (37 CFR
1.67)
PTO/SB/101 through 110 Declaration and Power of Attorney for Patent Application (in
various foreign languages)
PTO/SB/14 Application Data Sheet Form
PTO/SB/01A Declaration (37 CFR 1.63) for Utility or Design Application Using An
Application Data Sheet (37 CFR 1.76)
PTO/SB/03A Declaration (37 CFR 1.63) for Plant Application Using an Application Data
Sheet (37 CFR 1.76)
PTO/SB/13/PCT Request for Filing a Continuation or Division of an International
Application
PTO/SB/29 For Design Applications Only: Continued Prosecution Application (CPA)
Request Transmittal
PTO/SB/29A For Design Applications Only: Receipt for Facsimile Transmitted CPA
PTO/SB/16 Provisional Application for Patent Cover Sheet
60-Day Federal Register Notice published on September 12, 2006 (Vol. 71, No. 176)

File Type	application/pdf
File Title	SF-12 SUPPORTING STATEMENT
Author	USPTO
File Modified	2007-02-28
File Created	2007-02-28