The United States Patent and Trademark
Office (USPTO) is authorized by the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act
P.L. 112-29 and 35 U.S.C. § 131 et seq., to examine an application
for patent and, when appropriate, issue a patent. The provisions of
35 U.S.C. §§ 122(c), 122(e), 131, and 151, as well as 37 CFR 1.290
and 1.291, limit the ability of a third-party to have information
entered and considered in a patent application or to protest a
patent application pending before the Office. 37 CFR 1.290 provides
a mechanism for third-parties to submit to the USPTO, for
consideration and inclusion in the record of a patent application,
any patents, published patent applications, or other patent
publications of potential relevance to the examination of the
application. A preissuance submission under 37 CFR 1.290 may be
made in any nonprovisional utility, design, and plant application,
as well as in any continuing application. A preissuance submission
under 37 CFR 1.290 must include a concise description of the
asserted relevance of each document submitted and must be submitted
within a certain statutory specific time period. 37 CFR 1.291
permits a member of the public to file a protest against a pending
application. Protests pursuant to 37 CFR 1.921 are supported by a
separate statutory provision from third-party submissions under 37
CFR 1.290 (35 U.S.C. 122(c) v. 35 U.S.C. 122(e)). The information
collected via third-party submissions under 37 CFR 1.290 and via
protests under 37 CFR 1.291 is necessary so that the public may
contribute to the quality of issued patents. The USPTO will use
this information, as appropriate, during the patent examination
process to assist in evaluating the patent application.
The requested burden, as
outlined in the table above, seeks to modify the existing
information collection burden. The requested information collection
contains an estimated: • 880 annual responses • 8,800 annual burden
hours • $80,613 annual (non-hour) costs Changes in Responses and
Burden Hours For this renewal, the USPTO estimates that the annual
responses will decrease by 570 (from 1,450 to 880) and the total
burden hours will decrease by 5,700 (from 14,500 to 8,800) from the
currently approved burden for this information collection. These
adjustments are due to updated Agency estimates that forecast
declines in public submissions/responses of these items which in
turn decreases the annual burden hours. Changes in Annual
(Non-hour) Cost For this renewal, the USPTO estimates that the
total annual (non-hour) costs will decrease by $8,885 (from $89,498
to $80,613). The decrease in the annual cost burden is a result of
the decrease in the annual responses. Additionally, fewer mailing
to USPTO result in a reduction in postage costs. However, a slight
increase in the fees associated with these submissions/responses
and increasing postage rates are more than offset by the overall
decline in the number of responses/submissions.
$13,793
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
Parikha Mehta 571
272-3248
No
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.