[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 126 (Tuesday, June 30, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Page 39168]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-14071]
[[Page 39168]]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Patent and Trademark Office
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 April 20, 2020 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 (PTAB) Appeals.
OMB Control Number: 0651-0063.
Form Number(s): (AIA = American Invents; 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.
Number of Respondents: 22,664 respondents.
Average Hours per Response: The USPTO estimates 48,886 responses
and that it takes the public approximately .5 to 32 hours to complete
this information collection, depending on the complexity of the
request. This includes the time to gather the necessary information,
prepare the brief, petition, and other papers, and submit the completed
request to the USPTO.
Estimated Total Annual Respondent Burden Hours: 565,927 hours.
Estimated Total Annual Non-Hour Cost Burden: $48,712,078.
Needs and Uses: The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB or Board)
is established by statute under 35 U.S.C. 6 (American Inventors
Protection Act of 1999). 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
(America Invents Act) 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 and 315, to decide appeals in inter partes
reexamination proceedings.
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
requester. PTAB's opinions and decisions are usually publicly available
and published on the USPTO website.
The items associated with this information collection include
appeals in applications and ex parte reexamination proceedings, and
appeals in inter partes reexamination 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.
The name of this information collection is being changed from
``PTAB Actions'' to ``PTAB Appeals'' to better reflect the content of
the information collection. In addition, this renewal adds three items
currently approved in another information collection (0651-0031: Patent
Processing) to include all items related to patent appeals in a single
information collection. These three items are: Notice of Appeal,
Amendment to Cancel Claims During an Appeal, and Request for Oral
Hearing. A separate change request will be submitted to remove these
three items from that information collection (0651-0031: Patent
Processing).
Affected Public: Individuals or households; private sector. The
USPTO estimates that the majority (95%) of respondents (i.e.,
applicants, patent owners, and requesters) will be from the private
sector, but that about 5% will be individuals and households.
Frequency: On occasion.
Respondent's Obligation: Required to Obtain or Retain Benefits.
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 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: [email protected]. Include ``0651-
0063 copy 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.
Kimberly Hardy,
Information Collections Officer, Office of the Chief Administrative
Officer, United States Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. 2020-14071 Filed 6-29-20; 8:45 am]
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