The United States Patent and Trademark
Office (USPTO) is required by 35 U.S.C. 131 and 151 to examine
applications and, when appropriate, allow applications and issue
them as patents. When an application for a patent is allowed by the
USPTO, the USPTO issues a notice of allowance and the applicant
must pay the specified issue fee (including the publication fee, if
applicable) within three months to avoid abandonment of the
application. This collection of information also encompasses
several actions that may be taken after issuance of a patent,
pursuant to Chapter 25 of Title 35 U.S.C. A certificate of
correction may be requested to correct an error or errors in the
patent. For an original patent that is believed to be wholly or
partly inoperative or invalid, the assignee(s) or inventor(s) may
apply for reissue of the patent, which entails several formal
requirements, including provision of an oath or declaration
specifically identifying at least one error being relied upon as
the basis for reissue and stating the reason for the belief that
the original patent is wholly or partly inoperative or invalid
(e.g., a defective specification or drawing, or claiming more or
less than the patentee had the right to claim in the patent). The
public uses this information collection to request corrections of
errors in issued patents, to submit applications for reissue
patents, and to submit issue fee payments.
US Code:
35 USC
41 Name of Law: HAGUE AGREEMENT CONCERNING INTERNATIONAL
REGISTRATION OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGNS
US Code: 35
USC 131 Name of Law: LEAHY–SMITH AMERICA INVENTS ACT
US Code: 35
USC 115 Name of Law: LEAHY-SMITH AMERICA INVENTS TECHNICAL
CORRECTIONS
US Code: 35
USC 151 Name of Law: HAGUE AGREEMENT CONCERNING INTERNATIONAL
REGISTRATION OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGNS
US Code: 35
USC 251-256 Name of Law: LEAHY–SMITH AMERICA INVENTS ACT
For this renewal, the USPTO
estimates that the annual responses will decrease by 22,756 (from
414,905 to 392,149) and that the total annual (non-hour) costs will
decrease by $37,728,821 (from $343,997,600 to $306,268,779. These
adjustments are due to declining respondent numbers. The total
burden hours will increase by 106,040 (from 225,394 to 331,434)
from the currently approved burden for this information collection
due to increasing the estimated time to complete each activity by
0.3 hours. This increase was in response to a public comment.
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.