The Trademark Law Treaty
Implementation Act of 1998 (Pub. L. 105-330, § 302, 112 Stat. 3071)
required the USPTO to study issues surrounding the protection of
the official insignia of federally and state-recognized Native
American tribes under trademark law. At the direction of Congress,
the USPTO created a database containing the official insignia of
recognized Native American tribes. The USPTO database of official
tribal insignias provides evidence of what a federally or
state-recognized Native American tribe considers to be its official
insignia. The database thereby assists trademark examining
attorneys in their examination of applications for trademark
registration by serving as a reference for determining the
registrability of a mark that may falsely suggest a connection to
the official insignia of a Native American tribe. The entry of an
official insignia into the database does not confer any rights to
the tribe that submitted the insignia, and entry is not the legal
equivalent of registering the insignia as a trademark under 15
U.S.C. § 1051 et seq. This information collection is used by the
USPTO to enter an official insignia submitted by a federally or
state-recognized Native American tribe into the database. There are
no forms associated with 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.