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
provision of 35 U.S.C. 301 and 37 CFR 1.501 govern the ability if a
person to submit into the file of an issued patent (1) prior art
consisting of patents or printed publications which the person
making the submission believes to have a bearing on the
patentability of any claim of the patent, and (2) statements of the
patent owner filed by the patent owner 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 is therefore accounting for both electronic and
paper submissions in this collection. This information collection
is necessary so that the public may submit, in a patent file, prior
art consisting of patents or printed publications which the person
making the submission believes to have a bearing on the
patentability of any claim of the patent, and statements of the
patent owner that were filed by the patent owner 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 public may
use this information to aid in ascertaining the patentability
and/or scope of the claims of the patent. The USPTO may use the
information during subsequent reissue or reexamination proceedings,
except that the USPTO’s use of statements of the patent owner that
were filed by the patent owners 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 will be limited to determining the
meaning of a patent claim in ex parte reexamination proceedings
that have already been ordered and in inter partes review and post
review proceedings that have already been instituted.
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.