In February 2014, President Obama issued an Executive Action calling on the USPTO to expand the existing patent pro bono programs to all 50 states in the country. In support of this Executive Action, the USPTOâin collaboration with various non-profit organizationsâhas established a series of autonomous regional hubs that act as matchmakers to help connect low-income inventors with volunteer patent attorneys across the United States. The Regional Program Administrator Survey collects information about the services being provided by each region. This information will help the USPTO determine which regional hubs are operating efficiently and which programs need additional support.
The USPTO is proposing to revise the existing information collection. The burden increased, due to program change, as a new item (Client Intake Form) was added to the information collection to allow for regional hubs to report demographic information about individuals using their patent pro bono program. The addition of this new item resulted in + 1026 responses and + 17 hours of burden.
In addition, adjustments were made to the information collection to account for an increased number of regional hubs participating in the patent pro bono program. These adjustments added 8 responses and 16 burden hours.
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.