The United States Patent and Trademark
Office (USPTO) is required by 35 U.S.C. 131 et seq. to examine an
application for patent and, when appropriate, issue a patent. The
provisions of 35 U.S.C. 301 and 37 CFR 1.501 govern the ability of
a person to submit into the file of an issued patent (i) prior art
consisting of patents or printed publications which that person
believes to have a bearing on the patentability of any claim of a
patent and (ii) written statements of a patent owner filed in a
proceeding before a Federal court or the USPTO in which the patent
owner took a position on the scope of any claim of the patent. The
information in this collection can be submitted electronically
through EFS-Web, the USPTO's web-based electronic filing system, as
well as on paper. The USPTO therefore accounts for both electronic
and paper submissions in this collection.
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.