Under 35 U.S.C. § 41 and 15 U.S.C. §
1113, as implemented in 37 CFR 1.16-1.28, 2.6-2.7, and 2.206-2.209,
the USPTO charges fees for processing and other services related to
patents, trademarks, and information products. Customers may submit
payments to the USPTO by several methods, including credit card,
deposit account, electronic funds transfer (EFT), and paper check
transactions. The public uses this collection to pay patent and
trademark fees by credit card, establish and manage USPTO deposit
accounts, request refunds, and set up user profiles. The USPTO uses
this collection to process credit card payments, handle deposit
account requests, issue refunds, and provide user accounts for EFT
and other financial transactions.
The increases in annual
responses and burden hours are due to administrative adjustments
from revised estimates of the number of expected filings for this
collection. The reduction in annual cost burden is due primarily to
program changes from removing the costs for suggested actions that
do not qualify as record keeping requirements, such as retaining
receipts for online transactions. This burden reduction is slightly
offset by administrative adjustments from an increase in total
estimated service fees associated with deposit accounts and
returned payments and a decrease in total estimated postage costs
based on a corresponding decrease in the expected number of mailed
submissions.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.