The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) administers the Trademark Act, 15 U.S.C. 1051 et seq., which provides for the registration of trademarks, service marks, collective trademarks and collective service marks, collective membership marks, and certification marks. Individuals and businesses that use or intend to use such marks in commerce may file an application to register their marks with the USPTO.
This information collection covers various trademark related communications to the USPTO, including letters of protest, requests to make special, responses to petition inquiry letters, petitions to make special, requests to restore a filing date, and requests for reinstatement. The information is used by the public for a
variety of private business purposes related to establishing and enforcing trademark rights. Information relating to the registration of a trademark is made
available to the public by the USPTO. However, the release of information in a letter of protest is controlled and may be available only upon request.
A letter of protest is a procedure whereby third parties who object to the registration of a mark in a pending application may bring to the attention of
the USPTO evidence bearing on the registrability of the mark. A letter of protest must identify the application being protested and the proposed grounds for refusing registration and include relevant evidence to support the protest.
A request to make special may be submitted where an applicant requests that initial examination of an application be advanced out of its
regular order because the mark in the application was the subject of an inadvertently cancelled or expired previous registration.
A response to a petition inquiry letter is submitted by a petitioner who is responding to a notice of deficiency that the USPTO issued after receiving an
incomplete petition to the Director. A petition may be considered incomplete if, for example, it does not include the fee required by 37 CFR 2.6 or if it
includes an unverified assertion that is not supported by evidence.
The USPTO generally examines applications in the order in which they are received. A petition to make special is a request by the applicant to advance
the initial examination of an application out of its regular order. A request to restore a filing date is submitted by an applicant who previously filed an application that was denied a filing date. The request must include evidence showing that the applicant is entitled to the earlier filing date.
If an applicant has proof that an application was abandoned due to a USPTO error, an applicant may file a request to reinstate the application instead of a petition to revive. To support such a request, the applicant must include evidence of the USPTO error.
This information collection request, as outlined in the table above, seeks to modify the existing information collection.
Changes in Responses and Burden Hours:
For this renewal, the USPTO estimates that the annual responses will increase by 1,453 (from 4,768 to 6,221) and the total burden hours will increase by 2,619 (from 4,334 to 6,953) from the currently approved burden for this information collection. These changes are due to estimated fluctuations in the number of trademark submissions to USPTO.
Changes in Annual (Non-hour) Costs:
For this renewal, the USPTO estimates that the total annual (non-hour) costs will increase by $340,367 (from $53,508 to $393,875) due to:
⢠The addition of a new fee for Letters of Protest results in an increase of $230,150 in respondent cost burdens due to Agency discretion.
⢠The expected increase in the number of submissions, based on USPTO estimates, results in an increase of $110,217 in respondent cost burdens from existing fees and postage.
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.
Request for Reinstatement (Individuals or Households)