The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act,
which was enacted into law on September 16, 2011, provides for many
changes to the current Board of Patent Appeals and Interference
procedures (Pub. L. 112-29, 125 Stat. 284 (2011)). One such change
is to rename the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences to the
Patent Trial and Appeal Board (Board)(effective September 16,
2012). Other changes include the introduction of inter partes
review, post-grant review, derivation proceedings, and the
transitional program for covered business method patents. The
United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) submitted this
information collection to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
for review in support of six notices of proposed rulemaking (RINS
0651-AC70, AC71, AC72, AC73, AC74, and AC75) on February 9, 2012.
OMB filed a comment on the proposed rule on March 27, 2012. Based
on comments from the public, the USPTO made various changes to the
rules, including providing for agreements by the parties to alter
certain default aspects of the proceedings without seeking
authorization from the Board, clarifying the applicability of
statutory fees when patent owners present excess claims, and
including an information item, "Settlement (Parties not in
Litigation)." The USPTO also estimates that, because many disputes
may be resolved by the parties without submissions of motions to
the Board, the overall estimated burden hours associated with the
final rules is reduced which leads to a reduction in total
respondent burden cost. Therefore, the USPTO is resubmitting this
new information collection in support of three consolidated final
rulemakings (RINs 0651-AC70, AC71, and AC75). Requirements in
common for the new trial proceedings are adopted in RIN 0651-AC70,
thus most of the information collection requirements are based on
requirements in that notice. RINs 0651-AC71 and AC75 provide
details of certain proceedings and specific aspects of the
requirements in those proceedings.
The USPTO is submitting this
new information collection request in support of three final
rulemakings (RINs 0651-AC70, AC71, and AC75) which outline changes
in the rules of practice in proceedings before the Patent Trial and
Appeal Board. These changes are provided for by the Leahy-Smith
America Invents Act. The USPTO estimates that these final
rulemakings will add 5,059 responses and 528,947 burden hours per
year to the USPTO's information collection inventory. In addition,
the USPTO also estimates that these final rulemakings will add a
total of $17,427,196 in annualized (non-hour) costs per year for
filing fees and postage to the USPTO's information collection
inventory.
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.
0651-0069 (AC 70 AC 71 AC74 AC 75) SupStmt FINAL Aug 3 2012.pdf
Settlement (Parties not in Litigation)