[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 126 (Monday, July 3, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42699-42700]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-14014]
[[Page 42699]]
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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
AGENCY: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Department of
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of information collection; request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), as
required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, invites comments on
the extension and revision of an existing information collection: 0651-
0063 Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) Appeals. The purpose of this
notice is to allow 60 days for public comment preceding submission of
the information collection to OMB.
DATES: To ensure consideration, comments regarding this information
collection must be received on or before September 1, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit written comments by
any of the following methods. Do not submit Confidential Business
Information or otherwise sensitive or protected information.
Email: [email protected]. Include ``0651-
0063 comment'' in the subject line of the message.
Federal Rulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov.
Mail: Justin Isaac, Office of the Chief Administrative
Officer, United States Patent and Trademark Office, P.O. Box 1450,
Alexandria, VA 22313-1450.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Request for additional information
should be directed to Michael Tierney, Vice Chief Administrative Patent
Judge, Patent Trial and Appeal Board, United States Patent and
Trademark Office, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450; by
telephone at 571-272-9797; or by email to [email protected].
Additional information about this information collection is also
available at http://www.reginfo.gov under ``Information Collection
Review.''
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Abstract
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
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 part 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.
II. Method of Collection
Items in this information collection may be submitted via mail,
hand delivery, facsimile, filed as attachments through the USPTO's
patent electronic filing system, or through the Patent Trial and Appeal
Board End-to-End System (PTAB E2E), a separate electronic filing
system.
III. Data
OMB Control Number: 0651-0063.
Forms: (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.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 12,529 respondents.
Estimated Number of Responses: 22,149 responses.
Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that the responses
in this information collection will take the public 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 Hourly Cost Burden: $103,964,565.
Table 1--Total Burden Hours and Hourly Costs to Private Sector Respondents
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Estimated Estimated
Estimated Responses per Estimated time for Estimated Rate \1\ annual
Item No. Item annual respondent annual response burden (hour/ ($/hour) respondent
respondents responses (hours) year) cost burden
(a) (b) (a) x (b) = (d) (c) x (d) = (f) (e) x (f) =
(c) (e) (g)
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1.................... Notice of Appeal........... 12,312 1 12,312 0.5 6,156 $435 $2,677,860
2.................... Appeal Brief............... * 6,768 1 6,768 32 216,576 435 94,210,560
3.................... Amendment to Cancel Claims. * 112 1 112 2 224 435 97,440
4.................... Reply Brief................ * 2,197 1 2,197 5 10,985 435 4,778,475
[[Page 42700]]
5.................... Petitions to the Chief * 46 1 46 4 184 435 80,040
Administrative Patent
Judge Under 37 CFR 41.3.
6.................... Request for Oral Hearing... * 477 1 477 0.5 239 435 103,965
7.................... Request for Rehearing 207 1 207 5 1,035 435 450,225
Before the PTAB.
8.................... Statements, Motions, 10 3 30 120 3,600 435 1,566,000
Oppositions, and Replies
in Preliminary and
Priority Phases of an
Interference.
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Totals.................. 12,529 .............. 22,149 ........... 238,999 ......... 103,964,565
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\1\ 2021 Report of the Economic Survey published by the Committee on Economics of Legal Practice of the American Intellectual Property Law Association
(AIPLA); pg. F-27. The USPTO uses the average billing rate for attorneys in private firms which is $435 per hour.
* These lines (2-6) are subsets of the respondents from line 1, and not included in the total for this column. USPTO includes these numbers to show how
the values in column C are calculated.
Estimated Total Annual Respondent Non-hourly Cost Burden:
$17,185,623. There are no capital start-up, maintenance cost, or
recordkeeping costs associated with this information collection.
However, USPTO estimates that the total annual (non-hour) cost burden
for this information collection, in the form of filing fees
($17,183,424) and postage ($2,199) is $17,185,623.
Filing Fees
The 12 filing fees associated with this information collection as
outlined in the table below:
Table 2--Filing Fees
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Estimated
Item No. Fee Item annual Fee ($) Total cost ($)
code responses
(a) (b) (a) x (b) =
(c)
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1....................... 1401 Notice of appeal (undiscounted)..... 8,737 $840 $7,339,080
1....................... 2401 Notice of appeal (small)............ 3,230 336 1,085,280
1....................... 3401 Notice of appeal (micro)............ 345 168 57,960
2....................... 1404 Filing a brief in support of an 1 2,100 2,100
appeal in an inter partes
reexamination proceeding
(undiscounted).
2....................... 2404 Filing a brief in support of an 1 840 840
appeal in an inter partes
reexamination proceeding (small).
2....................... 3404 Filing a brief in support of an 1 420 420
appeal in an inter partes
reexamination proceeding (micro).
4....................... 1413 Forwarding an Appeal in an 3,131 2,360 7,389,160
Application or Ex Parte
Reexamination Proceeding to the
Board (undiscounted).
4....................... 2413 Forwarding an Appeal in an 797 944 752,368
Application or Ex Parte
Reexamination Proceeding to the
Board (small).
4....................... 3413 Forwarding an Appeal in an 91 472 42,952
Application or Ex Parte
Reexamination Proceeding to the
Board (micro).
6....................... 1403 Request for oral hearing 319 1,360 433,840
(undiscounted).
6....................... 2403 Request for oral hearing (small).... 134 544 72,896
6....................... 3403 Request for oral hearing (micro).... 24 272 6,528
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Totals........................... 16,811 ....... 17,183,424
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Postage Costs
Although the USPTO prefers that the items in this information
collection be submitted electronically, responses may be submitted by
mail through the United States Postal Service (USPS). The USPTO
estimates that 1% of the 22,149 items will be submitted in the mail
resulting in 221 mailed items. The USPTO estimates that the average
postage cost for a mailed submission, using a Priority Mail 2-day flat
rate legal envelope, will be $9.95. Therefore, the USPTO estimates the
total mailing costs for this information collection at $2,199.
IV. Request for Comments
The USPTO is soliciting public comments to:
(a) Evaluate whether the collection of information is necessary for
the proper performance of the functions of the Agency, including
whether the information will have practical utility;
(b) Evaluate the accuracy of the Agency's estimate of the burden of
the collection of information, including the validity of the
methodology and assumptions used;
(c) Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to
be collected; and
(d) Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those
who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated,
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic
submission of responses.
All comments submitted in response to this notice are a matter of
public record. USPTO will include or summarize each comment in the
request to OMB to approve this information collection. Before including
an address, phone number, email address, or other personally
identifiable information (PII) in a comment, be aware that the entire
comment--including PII--may be made publicly available at any time.
While you may ask in your comment to withhold PII from public view,
USPTO cannot guarantee that it will be able to do so.
Justin Isaac,
Information Collections Officer, Office of the Chief Administrative
Officer, United States Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. 2023-14014 Filed 6-30-23; 8:45 am]
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