0651-00xx Humanitarian_SupStmt Jan 20 2012

SUPPORTING STATEMENT
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Humanitarian Program
OMB CONTROL NO. 0651-00xx
January 2012
A.

JUSTIFICATION

1.

Necessity of Information Collection

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is launching a voluntary pilot
program to incentivize the distribution of patented technologies or products to address
humanitarian needs. The USPTO plans to collect information from Applicants that
describes what actions they have taken with their patented technology to address
humanitarian needs among an impoverished population, or how they have furthered
research by others on technologies for humanitarian purposes. It is expected that
inventions from any field of technology may participate.
This pilot program is a follow-up to the responses received from the agency’s “Request
for Comments on Incentivizing Humanitarian Technologies and Licensing Through the
Intellectual Property System” published September 20, 2010.
Table 1: Statute and Rule Citations
Requirement
Humanitarian Program Application

2.

Statute

Rule

35 U.S.C. §131

No rule cite

Needs and Uses

Applicants will submit applications describing how their actions satisfy the competition
criteria to address humanitarian issues.
Submissions will be publicly available. Applications may be up to five pages, and
applicants may supplement the application with additional supporting material if they
wish. Judges will review application and may review the supplemental material at their
discretion.
Table 2: Needs and Uses
Form and Function
Humanitarian Program Application

Form #
No Form
Number

Needs and Uses
•
•
•
•
•

Used by the applicant to apply for participation in Humanitarian
pilot program.
Used by external judges to recommend award recipients.
Used by a selection committee to select award recipients.
Used by the USPTO to award a certificate to selected recipients.
Used by the applicant to supply requested information

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 this information collection and its supporting statement
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.

3.

Use of Information Technology

Applications will be submitted electronically through the www.challenge.gov website.

4.

Efforts to Identify Duplication

This information is collected to determine whether the applicant is eligible for pilot
program. It does not duplicate information or collection of data found elsewhere.

5.

Minimizing the Burden to Small Entities

No significant impact is placed on small entities.

6.

Consequences of Less Frequent Collection

This information is collected only as required to process an application for participation
in the pilot program. This information is not collected elsewhere. Therefore, this
collection of information could not be conducted less frequently. If this information were
not collected, the USPTO would not be able to present awards.

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 USPTO published a Federal Register Notice on September 20, 2010, entitled
“Request for Comments on Incentivizing Humanitarian Technologies and Licensing
Through the Intellectual Property System” (75 Fed. Reg. 57261). Public comments
have been received and have been considered in the development of the program and

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collection of information.
Comments are posted to the agency website at
http://www.uspto.gov/patents/law/comments/humanitarian.jsp.

9.

Payment or Gifts to Respondents

This information collection does involve an award to select respondents. For patent
holders whose applications are chosen as the best examples of advancing humanitarian
goals, the USPTO will award them a certificate for acceleration of certain matters before
the agency.

10.

Assurance of Confidentiality.

The USPTO will comply with the Privacy Act of 1974.

11.

Justification for Sensitive Questions

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

12.

Estimate of Hour and Cost Burden to Respondents

Table 3 calculates the anticipated burden hours and costs of this information collection
to the public to be an estimated $706,000 based on the following factors:
•

Respondent Calculation Factors
The USPTO estimates that it will receive 1,000 applications per year.

•

Burden Hour Calculation Factors
The USPTO estimates that it takes the public approximately 4 hours to complete the
application, depending on the nature of the information. This includes the time to gather
the necessary information, prepare the application and submit it and any supplemental
supporting materials, to the USPTO.

•

Cost Burden Calculation Factors
Respondent costs are estimated at two rates:
o $122 per hour: the mean billing rate for paralegals with the Advanced Certified
Paralegal credential (source: Table 3.2, 2010 National Utilization and Compensation
Survey Report published by the National Association of Legal Assistance, October
2010).
o $340 per hour: the median billing rate for attorneys in private firms, (source: page 8
of the 2011 Report of the Economic Survey from the Law Practice Management
Committee of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA)).

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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)

Humanitarian Program Application
Paralegal
Attorney

3.00
1.00

1.000
1.000

3,000
1,000

$122
$340

$366,000
$340,000

Total

4.00

1000

4,000

- - - -

$706,000

13.

Total Annualized Cost Burden

There are no postage, operation or maintenance costs associated with this information
collection. All applications will be received electronically.

14.

Annual Cost to the Federal Government

The USPTO’s total estimated cost for processing the information in this collection is
estimated at $ 2,573 per year. The estimated cost for processing the applications is as
follows:
It is estimated that a GS-5, step 1, will take 5 minutes (0.08 hours) to review the
applications for inappropriate material. The hourly rate for a GS-9, step 1, is currently
$24.74 according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s 2011 wage chart,
including locality pay for the Washington, DC area. When 30% is added to account for
a fully loaded hourly rate (benefits and overhead), the rate per hour for a GS-5, step 1 is
$32.16 ($24.74 + $7.42).
Table 4: Burden Hour/Burden Cost to the Federal Government
Item

Humanitarian Program Application

Total

15.

Hours
(a)

Responses
(yr)
(b)

.08

1000

- - - - -

1000

Reason for Change in Burden

This is a new collection of information.

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

Rate
($/hr)
(d)

80

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

$32.16

$2.573

- - - - -

$2,573

16.

Project Schedule

There is no plan to publish this information for statistical use. The pilot program start
date is currently estimated as early calendar year 2012. Applications are expected to
be collected twice a year for the pilot. This schedule may be adjusted in the future.

17.

Display of Expiration Date of OMB Approval

The form 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.

B.

COLLECTIONS OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL METHODS

This collection of information does not employ statistical methods.

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