30-day Federal Register Notice

63940

Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 179 / Monday, September 18, 2023 / Notices

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Patent and Trademark Office

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Agency Information Collection
Activities; Submission to the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) for
Review and Approval; Comment
Request; Patent Trial and Appeal
Board (PTAB) Appeals
The United States Patent and
Trademark Office (USPTO) will submit
the following information collection
request to the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) for review and clearance
in accordance with the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995, on or after the
date of publication of this notice. The
USPTO invites comment on this
information collection renewal, which
helps the USPTO assess the impact of
its information collection requirements
and minimize the public’s reporting
burden. Public comments were
previously requested via the Federal
Register on July 3, 2023 during a 60-day
comment period. This notice allows for
an additional 30 days for public
comments.
Agency: United States Patent and
Trademark Office, Department of
Commerce.
Title: Patent Trial and Appeal Board
Appeals.
OMB Control Number: 0651–0063.
Needs and Uses: The Patent Trial and
Appeal Board (PTAB or Board) is
established by statute under 35 U.S.C. 6.
This statute directs, in relevant part,
that PTAB shall ‘‘on written appeal of
an applicant, review adverse decisions
of examiners upon applications for
patents pursuant to section 134(a).’’
PTAB has the authority, under 35 U.S.C.
134 and 306 to decide appeals in
applications and ex parte reexamination
proceedings, and under pre-AIA
sections of the Patent Act, i.e., 35 U.S.C.
134, 135, and 315, to decide appeals in
inter partes reexamination proceedings
and interferences. In addition, 35 U.S.C.
6 establishes the membership of PTAB
as the Director, the Deputy Director, the
Commissioner for Patents, the
Commissioner for Trademarks, and the
Administrative Patent Judges. Each
appeal and interference is decided by a
merits panel of at least three members
of the Board.
The Board’s responsibilities under the
statute include the review of ex parte
appeals from adverse decisions of
examiners in those situations where a
written appeal is taken by a dissatisfied
applicant or patent owner. In inter
partes reexamination appeals, PTAB
reviews examiner’s decisions adverse to
a patent owner or a third-party

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requester. PTAB’s opinions and
decisions for publicly available files are
published on the USPTO website. The
Board also conducts interference
proceedings.
The items associated with this
information collection include appeals
in applications and ex parte
reexamination proceedings, and appeals
in inter partes reexamination
proceedings and interference
proceedings that are governed by the
regulations in 37 CFR 41. Failure to
comply with the appropriate regulations
may result in dismissal of the appeal or
denial of entry of the submission.
This revision and extension of the
information collection includes a line
item to expressly specify certain filings
made to the Board related to
interference proceedings, including
statements, motions, oppositions, and
replies in preliminary and priority
phases of an interference.
Form Numbers: (AIA= America
Invents Act; SB = Specimen Book).
• PTO/AIA/31: (Notice of Appeal
from the Examiner to the Patent Trial
and Appeal Board).
• PTO/SB/31: (Notice of Appeal).
• PTO/AIA/32: (Request for Oral
Hearing before the Patent Trial and
Appeal Board).
• PTO/SB/32: (Request for Oral
Hearing before the Patent Trial and
Appeal Board).
Type of Review: Extension and
revision of a currently approved
information collection.
Affected Public: Private sector.
Respondent’s Obligation: Required to
obtain or retain benefits.
Frequency: On occasion.
Estimated Number of Annual
Respondents: 12,529 respondents.
Estimated Number of Annual
Responses: 22,149 responses.
Estimated Time per Response: The
USPTO estimates that the responses in
this information collection will take
respondents approximately 0.5 to 120
hours to complete. This includes the
time to gather the necessary
information, create the document, and
submit the completed request to the
USPTO.
Estimated Total Annual Respondent
Burden Hours: 238,999 hours.
Estimated Total Annual Respondent
Non-Hourly Cost Burden: $17,185,623.
This information collection request
may be viewed at www.reginfo.gov.
Follow the instructions to view
Department of Commerce, USPTO
information collections currently under
review by OMB.
Written comments and
recommendations for this information
collection should be submitted within

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30 days of the publication of this notice
on the following website
www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain.
Find this particular information
collection by selecting ‘‘Currently under
30-day Review—Open for Public
Comments’’ or by using the search
function and entering either the title of
the information collection or the OMB
Control Number 0651–0063.
Further information can be obtained
by:
• Email: InformationCollection@
uspto.gov. Include ‘‘0651–0063
information request’’ in the subject line
of the message.
• Mail: Justin Isaac, Office of the
Chief Administrative Officer, United
States Patent and Trademark Office,
P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313–
1450.
Justin Isaac,
Information Collections Officer, Office of the
Chief Administrative Officer, United States
Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. 2023–20140 Filed 9–15–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–16–P

COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING
COMMISSION
Agency Information Collection
Activities Under OMB Review
Commodity Futures Trading
Commission.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:

In compliance with the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(‘‘PRA’’), this notice announces that the
Information Collection Request (‘‘ICR’’)
abstracted below has been forwarded to
the Office of Information and Regulatory
Affairs (‘‘OIRA’’), of the Office of
Management and Budget (‘‘OMB’’), for
review and comment. The ICR describes
the nature of the information collection
and its expected costs and burden.
DATES: Comments must be submitted on
or before October 18, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Written comments and
recommendations for the proposed
information collection should be
submitted within 30 days of this
notice’s publication to OIRA, at https://
www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain.
Please find this particular information
collection by selecting ‘‘Currently under
30-day Review—Open for Public
Comments’’ or by using the website’s
search function. Comments can be
entered electronically by clicking on the
‘‘comment’’ button next to the
information collection on the ‘‘OIRA
Information Collections Under Review’’
page, or the ‘‘View ICR—Agency
SUMMARY:

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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 179 / Monday, September 18, 2023 / Notices
Submission’’ page. A copy of the
supporting statement for the collection
of information discussed herein may be
obtained by visiting https://
www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain.
In addition to the submission of
comments to https://Reginfo.gov as
indicated above, you may also submit a
copy of all comments submitted to
OIRA to the Commodity Futures
Trading Commission (the
‘‘Commission’’ or ‘‘CFTC’’) through any
of the following methods:
• Online: The CFTC Comments
Portal, on the agency’s website, is
available at https://comments.cftc.gov.
Select the ‘‘Submit Comments’’ link for
this rulemaking and follow the
instructions on the Public Comment
Form.
• Mail: Christopher Kirkpatrick,
Secretary of the Commission,
Commodity Futures Trading
Commission, Three Lafayette Centre,
1155 21st Street NW, Washington, DC
20581.
• Hand Delivery/Courier: Follow the
same instructions as for Mail above.
Please submit your comments using
only one of these methods. To avoid
possible delays with mail or in-person
deliveries, submissions through the
CFTC Comments Portal are encouraged.
All comments must be submitted in
English, or if not, accompanied by an
English translation. Comments will be
posted as received to https://
www.cftc.gov. You should submit only
information that you wish to make
available publicly. If you wish the
Commission to consider information
that you believe is exempt from
disclosure under the Freedom of
Information Act (‘‘FOIA’’), a petition for
confidential treatment of the exempt
information may be submitted according
to the procedures established in § 145.9
of the Commission’s regulations.1 The
Commission reserves the right, but shall
have no obligation, to review, prescreen, filter, redact, refuse or remove
any or all of your submission from
https://comments.cftc.gov that it may
deem to be inappropriate for
publication, such as obscene language.
All submissions that have been redacted
or removed that contain comments on
the merits of the ICR will be retained in
the public comment file and will be
considered as required under the
Administrative Procedure Act and other
applicable laws, and may be accessible
under FOIA.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dina
Moussa, Special Counsel, 202–418–
5696, [email protected], Market
Participants Division, Commodity
1 17

CFR 145.9.

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Futures Trading Commission, Three
Lafayette Centre, 1155 21st Street NW,
Washington, DC 20581.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: Swap Dealer and Major Swap
Participant Conflicts of Interest and
Business Conduct Standards with
Counterparties (OMB Control No. 3038–
0079). This is a request for an extension
of a currently approved information
collection.
Abstract: Section 731 of Title VII of
the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and
Consumer Protection Act 2 amended the
Commodity Exchange Act (‘‘CEA’’) to
add sections 4s(h) and 4s(j)(5),3 which
provide the Commission with both
mandatory and discretionary
rulemaking authority to impose
business conduct requirements on swap
dealers (‘‘SDs’’) and major swap
participants (‘‘MSPs’’) in their dealings
with counterparties, including ‘‘Special
Entities,’’ 4 and require that each SD and
MSP implement conflicts of interest
systems and procedures. Congress
granted the Commission broad
discretionary authority to promulgate
business conduct requirements, as
appropriate in the public interest, for
the protection of investors, or otherwise
in furtherance of the purposes of the
CEA.5
Accordingly, the Commission has
adopted subpart H of part 23 of its
regulations (‘‘EBCS Rules’’) 6 and
§ 23.605,7 requiring SDs and MSPs to
2 Dodd-Frank Act, Public Law 111–203, 124 Stat.
1376 (2010).
3 7 U.S.C. 6s(h) and 6s(j)(5).
4 Such entities are generally defined to include
Federal agencies, States and political subdivisions,
employee benefit plans as defined under the
Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974
(‘‘ERISA’’), governmental plans as defined under
ERISA, and endowments.
5 See section 4s(h)(3)(D) of the CEA, 7 U.S.C.
6s(h)(3)(D) (Business conduct requirements adopted
by the Commission shall establish such other
standards and requirements as the Commission may
determine are appropriate in the public interest, for
the protection of investors, or otherwise in
furtherance of the purposes of the CEA); see also
sections 4s(h)(1)(D), 4s(h)(5)(B), and 4s(h)(6) of the
CEA; 7 U.S.C. 6s(h)(1)(D), 6s(h)(5)(B), and 6s(h)(6).
6 17 CFR part 23, subpart H. Subpart H of part 23
(titled Business Conduct Standards for Swap
Dealers and Major Swap Participants Dealing with
Counterparties, Including Special Entities) includes
the following provisions: § 23.400 (Scope); § 23.401
(Definitions); § 23.402 (General Provisions);
§ 23.410 (Prohibition on fraud, manipulation and
other abusive practices); § 23.430 (Verification of
counterparty eligibility); § 23.431 (Disclosures of
material information); § 23.432 (Clearing
disclosures); § 23.433 (Communications—fair
dealing); § 23.434 (Recommendations to
counterparties—institutional suitability; § 23.440
(Requirements for swap dealers acting as advisors
to Special Entities); § 23.450 (Requirements for
swap dealers and major swap participants acting
counterparties to Special Entities); and § 23.451
(Political contributions by certain swap dealers).
7 17 CFR 23.605. Commission regulation 23.605 is
titled Conflicts of interest policies and procedures.

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63941

follow specified procedures and to
provide specified disclosures in their
dealings with counterparties, to adopt
and implement conflicts of interest
procedures and disclosures, and to
maintain specified records related to
those requirements.
The recordkeeping and third-party
disclosure obligations imposed by the
regulations are essential to ensuring that
SDs and MSPs develop and maintain
procedures and disclosures required by
the CEA and Commission regulations.8
An agency may not conduct or
sponsor, and a person is not required to
respond to, a collection of information
unless it displays a currently valid OMB
control number.9 On July 6, 2023, the
Commission published in the Federal
Register notice of the proposed
extension of this information collection
and provided 60 days for public
comment on the proposed extension, 88
FR 43085 (‘‘60-Day Notice’’). The
Commission received no relevant
comments on the 60-Day Notice.
Burden Statement: The current
respondent burden for this collection is
estimated to be as follows:
Estimated Number of Respondents:
105.10
Estimated Average Burden Hours per
Respondent: 2,352.9.
Estimated Total Annual Burden
Hours: 247,059.11
Frequency of Collection: Ongoing.
There are no capital costs or operating
and maintenance costs associated with
this collection.
(Authority: 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.)
Dated: September 13, 2023.
Robert Sidman,
Deputy Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2023–20132 Filed 9–15–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6351–01–P

8 Reporting under § 23.451 (Political
contributions by certain swap dealers) is optional
and it is unknown how many registrants, if any,
will engage in such reporting and how much
burden, if any, will be incurred. Nevertheless, the
Commission is providing an estimate of the
regulation’s burden for purposes of the PRA below.
9 44 U.S.C. 3512; 5 CFR 1320.5(b)(2)(i) and
1320.8(b)(3)(vi).
10 The Commission, at the 60-Day Notice stage,
estimated that 106 respondents were subject to the
information collection requirements at issue, 88 FR
43085 (Jul. 6, 2023), but has subsequently revised
its estimate to 105 respondents, based on the
current number of registered SDs.
11 The estimated total annual burden hours, at
247,059 hours, is revised from 249,412 hours
reported in the 60-Day Notice, based on the current
number of registered SDs (105 instead of 106).

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