G410: TC2600 CPM Survey Submission Request 2024

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 0651-0080)

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: G410: TC2600 Customer Partnership Meeting (CPM) Survey 2024

PURPOSE: The CPM is designed as a collaborative meeting between patent examiners, practitioners and supervisors. It allows us to discuss various topics of patent prosecution for practitioners to gain insight into our training and examination practices. This survey allows us to solicit feedback and suggestions with the purpose of guiding future meeting topics and training.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS: CPM respondents will include examiners, supervisors and practitioners; however, the survey is only for patent attorneys, agents or applicants. The survey is only accessible to those that attend.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one or multiple)

[ ] Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form [ X ] Customer Satisfaction Survey

[ ] Usability Testing (e.g., Website or Software [ ] Small Discussion Group

[ ] Focus Group

[ X ] Other: Anonymous Feedback

CERTIFICATION:

I certify the following to be true:

1. The collection is voluntary.

2. The collection is low-burden for respondents and low-cost for the Federal Government.

3. The collection is non-controversial and does not raise issues of concern to other federal agencies.

4. The results are not intended to be disseminated to the public.

5. Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy decisions.

6. The collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions from respondents who have experience with the program or may have experience with the program in the future.

Business Unit: _TC2600__/Name/_ Ke Xiao, Andrew Flanders, Benjamin Lee

To assist review, please provide answers to the following question:

Personally Identifiable Information:

1. Is personally identifiable information (PII) collected? [ ] Yes [ X ] No

1a. If Yes, is the information that will be collected included in records that are subject to

the Privacy Act of 1974? [ ] Yes [ ] No

2. If applicable, has a System of Records Notice been published? [ ] Yes [ ] No

Gifts or Payments:

Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to participants? [ ] Yes [ X ] No

BURDEN HOURS

Name of Instrument	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden
Survey - Private Sector	60	5 min	5 hours
Totals	60	- - -	5 hours

The USPTO estimates that 100% of the surveys (small discussions, focus groups, etc.) will be conducted electronically.

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the federal government is the hourly rate of $119.54 (GS-15/Step 10 at $91.95 with 30% ($27.59) added for beenfits and overhead) * 16 hours (Two planned 8-hour CPM sessions per year) = $1,913.

If you are conducting a focus group, survey, or plan to employ statistical methods, please provide answers to the following questions:

The selection of your targeted respondents

1. Do you have a customer list or something similar that defines the universe of potential respondents and do you have a sampling plan for selecting from this universe? [ ] Yes [ X ] No

If the answer is yes, please provide a description of both below (or attach the sampling plan)? If the answer is no, please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them?

(Describe identification and selection of potential group here)

Invitations for this CPM will go to practitioners that prosecute applications before TC2600, however registration website is available to the general public. The group will be all the attending patent attorneys, agents and practitioners. We will prompt them with the survey during closing statements.

Administration of the Instrument

1. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)

[ X ] Web-based or other forms of Social Media (surveymonkey)

[ ] Telephone

[ ] In-person

[ ] Mail

[ ] Other, Explain: live poll software

2. Will interviewers or facilitators be used? [ ] Yes [ X ] No

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