[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 81 (Monday, April 27, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23328-23329]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-08893]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Patent and Trademark Office
Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request; ``Pro Bono Survey''
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will submit
to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for clearance the
following proposal for a collection of information under the provisions
of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.
Agency: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Department of
Commerce.
Title: Pro Bono Survey.
OMB Control Number: 0651-0082.
Form Number(s):
Pro Bono Survey, PTO Form 450.
Client Intake Form, PTO Form 451.
Type of Request: Revision of a currently approved information
collection.
Number of Respondents: 1,048 respondents. The USPTO estimates that
22 regional hub administrators will report metrics once per quarter.
The reminder of the 1,026 estimated
[[Page 23329]]
respondents will be completed by applicants to the Pro Bono regional
programs.
Average Hours per Response: The USPTO estimates that it takes the
regional hub administrators approximately 120 minutes (2 hours) to
complete the pro bono survey, including time needed to gather the
necessary information, enter it into the information collection
instrument, and submit it. The USPTO estimates that it will take
approximately 1 minute for applicants to complete the Client Intake
Form.
Burden Hours: 193 hours.
Hourly Cost Burden: $13,676.
Annual (non-hour) Cost: $0.
Needs and Uses: The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA), Public
Law 112-29 Sec. 32 (2011) directs the USPTO to work with and support
intellectual property law associations across the country in the
establishment of pro bono programs (also referred to as ``hubs'')
designed to assist financially under-resourced independent inventors
and small businesses. To support this, the USPTO has worked with and
supported various non-profit organizations to establish a series of
autonomous regional hubs that endeavor to match low-income inventors
with volunteer patent practitioners across the United States. The
regional hubs comprise law school intellectual property clinics, bar
associations, innovation/entrepreneurial organizations, and arts-
focused lawyer referral services that are strategically located to
provide access to patent pro bono services across all fifty states and
the District of Columbia. Additionally, the Study of Underrepresented
Classes Chasing Engineering and Science Success Act (SUCCESS Act),
Public Law 115-273 (2018) directs the agency to provide recommendations
on how to increase the number of women, minorities, and veterans who
apply for and obtain patents.
To support the purposes described above, the Pro Bono Survey will
continue to collect information regarding the activity of the regional
hubs. The USPTO has worked with the Pro Bono Advisory Council (PBAC) to
determine what information is necessary to determine the effectiveness
of each regional pro bono hub's operations. The PBAC is a well-
established group of patent practitioners and thought leaders in
intellectual property who have committed to provide support and
guidance to patent pro bono hubs across the country. The data
previously gathered, and which continues to be gathered, provides the
USPTO with valuable information, including the number of inventor
inquiries, referral sources, number of pro bono applicants successfully
matched with patent practitioners, and types of patent filings. The
USPTO, PBAC, and the regional hubs, are responsible for the quarterly
collection of this information. The information, at its highest level,
will allow the PBAC and the USPTO to determine whether the regional
hubs are matching qualified low-income inventors with volunteer patent
practitioners and help estimate the total economic benefit derived by
low-income inventors in the form of donated legal services. This
information also helps the USPTO determine which regional hubs are
effectively serving low-income inventors and which hubs need additional
support.
The USPTO is proposing to revise the existing information
collection to gather additional information regarding gender,
ethnicity, race, and veteran status. Each regional hub will be
voluntarily requesting demographic information from those seeking
assistance that will be self-identified by the applicant. This
requested standardized demographic information will be a voluntary part
of the overall application materials that each independent inventor
fills out when seeking pro bono assistance. This voluntary information
will be kept confidential by the regional hubs and only aggregate
information is shared with the USPTO. This aggregate information will
also be used to help determine the extent to which women, minorities,
and veterans engage the Patent Pro Bono Program.
Affected Public: Not-for-profit institutions; individuals and
households.
Frequency: The Pro Bono Survey is completed quarterly; the Client
Intake Form is completed on occasion.
Respondent's Obligation: Required to Obtain or Retain Benefits.
Once submitted, the request will be publically available in
electronic format through reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view
the Department of Commerce information collections currently under
review by OMB.
Further information can be obtained by:
Email: [email protected]. Include ``0651-
0082 information request'' in the subject line of the message.
Mail: Kimberly Hardy, Office of the Chief Administrative
Officer, United States Patent and Trademark Office, P.O. Box 1450,
Alexandria, VA 22313-1450.
Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information
collection should be sent on or before May 27, 2020 to 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 to view Department of Commerce
information collections currently under review by OMB.
Kimberly Hardy,
Information Collections Officer, Office of the Chief Administrative
Officer, United States Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. 2020-08893 Filed 4-24-20; 8:45 am]
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