The Patent Law Treaties Implementation
Act of 2012 (PLTIA) amends the patent laws to implement the
provisions of the Hague Agreement Concerning International
Registration of Industrial Designs (Hague Agreement) in title I,
and the Patent Law Treaty (PLT) in title II. The PLT harmonizes and
streamlines formal procedures pertaining to the filing and
processing of patent applications. This information collection is
necessary so that patent applicants and/or patentees may seek
restoration of the right of priority to a prior-filed foreign
application or of the right to benefit of a prior-filed provisional
application. The USPTO will use the petition to restore the right
of priority to a prior-filed foreign application or the right to
benefit of a prior-filed provisional application to determine
whether the applicant has satisfied the conditions of the
applicable statute (35 U.S.C. 119) and regulation (proposed 37 CFR
1.55(b)(2) and 1.178(a)(1)(ii).
The USPTO is publishing a
notice of final rulemaking titled "Changes to Implement the Patent
Law Treaty." The provisions in this final rule are expected to add
500 responses, 500 burden hours, and $743,096 in annual (non-hour)
costs to the USPTO's information collection inventory due to a
program change.
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.