# Patent Processing (Updating) > Briefs, arguments, decisions, and more. URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/documents/fr%3AE6-8241 ## Record - **Collection:** Federal Register - **Document type:** Notice - **Published:** May 30, 2006 - **Citation:** 71 FR 30662 ## Text PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE Patent Processing (Updating) ACTION: Proposed collection; comment request. SUMMARY: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on the continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)). DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before July 31, 2006. ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods: E-mail: Susan.Brown@uspto.gov. Include “0651-0031 comment” in the subject line of the message. Fax: 571-273-0112, marked to the attention of Susan Brown. Mail: Susan K. Brown, Records Officer, Office of the Chief Information Officer, Architecture, Engineering and Technical Services, Data Architecture and Services Division, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450. Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information should be directed to the attention of Robert J. Spar, Director, Office of Patent Legal Administration, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450; by telephone at 571-272-7700; or by e-mail at bob.spar@uspto.gov. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. Abstract The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is required by 35 U.S.C. 131 to examine an application for patent and, when appropriate, issue a patent. Also, the USPTO is required to publish patent applications, with certain exceptions, promptly after the expiration of a period of eighteen months from the earliest filing date for which a benefit is sought under Title 35, United States Code (“eighteen-month publication”). Certain situations may arise which require that additional information be supplied in order for the USPTO to further process the patent or application. The USPTO administers the statutes through various sections of the rules of practice in 37 CFR part 1. The information in this collection can be used by the USPTO to continue the processing of the patent or application, to ensure that applicants are complying with the patent regulations, and to aid in the prosecution of the application. The USPTO is adding two new forms into this collection. PTO/SB/33, Pre-Appeal Brief Request for Review, is a new optional procedure that is intended to spare applicants the added time and expense of preparing an appeal brief for an application that ultimately may be categorized as “not in condition for appeal.” Also new is form PTO/SB/28, Petition to Make Special Under Accelerated Examination Program. The requirement for the petition is already approved in the collection; however, the response time has been increased from 1 hour to 12 hours. Applicants who choose to participate in this optional procedure in order to receive the benefit of accelerated examination will have to share in the examination burden to a greater extent. In return, such applicants will receive the benefit of an early patentability determination for their claimed invention. A previously overlooked requirement, the Request for Corrected Filing Receipt, is also being added into the collection, in both paper and electronic formats. Forms for this requirement are currently under development. There are 41 forms associated with this collection. II. Method of Collection By mail, facsimile, or hand delivery to the USPTO. The eIDS (electronic information disclosure statements), the electronic filing system (EFS) copy of the application for publication, and the request for corrected filing receipt may be submitted electronically over the Internet. III. Data OMB Number: 0651-0031. Form Number(s): PTO/SB/08/08a/08b, PTO/SB/17i, PTO/SB/17P; PTO/SB/21-28, PTO/SB/24A, PTO/SB/24B, PTO/SB/30-33, PTO/SB/35-39, PTO/SB/42-43, PTO/SB/61-64, PTO/SB/64a, PTO/SB/67-68, PTO/SB/91-92, PTO/SB/96-97, PTO-2053-A/B, PTO-2054-A/B, PTO-2055-A/B, PTOL/413A. Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved collection. Affected Public: Individuals or households; business or other for-profit; not-for-profit institutions; farms; the Federal Government; and state, local or tribal governments. Estimated Number of Respondents: 2,604,029 responses per year. Estimated Time Per Response: The USPTO estimates that it will take the public between 1 minute and 48 seconds (0.03 hours) to 12 hours (12.0 hours), depending upon the complexity of the situation, to gather, prepare, and submit the various documents in this information collection. Estimated Total Annual Respondent Burden Hours: 3,157,840 hours per year. Estimated Total Annual Respondent Cost Burden: $504,711,200 per year. The USPTO expects that the transmittal form; the petition for extension of time under 37 CFR 1.136(a); express abandonment under 1.138; express abandonment to avoid publication under 1.138(c); requests to access, inspect and copy; deposit account order form; certificates of mailing/transmission; electronic filing system (EFS) copy of application for publication; the copy of the applicant or patentee's record of the application; the request for voluntary publication or republication; the petition for request for documents in a form other than that provided by 1.19; the request for processing of replacement drawings; and the request for corrected filing receipt will be prepared by paraprofessionals. Using the paraprofessional rate of $90 per hour, the USPTO estimates that the respondent cost burden for these items will be $191,469,600. The USPTO estimates that the remaining items in this collection will be prepared by associate attorneys in private firms. Using the professional hourly rate of $304 per hour for associate attorneys in private firms, the USPTO estimates $313,241,600 per year for salary costs associated with respondents for the other items in this information collection. The total respondent cost burden is estimated to be $504,711,200 per year. Item Estimated time for response Estimated annual responses Estimated annual burden hours Information Disclosure Statements—Paper 2 hours 423,000 846,000 eIDS (Information Disclosure Statements) 2 hours 47,000 94,000 Transmittal Form 2 hours 1,039,500 2,079,000 Petition for Extension of Time under 37 CFR 1.136(a) 6 minutes 189,000 18,900 Petition for Extension of Time under 37 CFR 1.136(b) 30 minutes 54 27 Express Abandonment Under 37 CFR 1.138 12 minutes 13,825 2,765 Petition for Express Abandonment to Avoid Publication Under 1.138(c) 12 minutes 500 100 Disclaimers 12 minutes 15,000 3,000 Request for Expedited Examination of a Design Application 6 minutes 130 13 Notice of Appeal 12 minutes 16,500 3,300 Information Disclosure Citation in a Patent 2 hours 1,830 3,660 Petition for Revival of an Application for Patent Abandoned Unavoidably 8 hours 585 4,680 Petition for Revival of an Application for Patent Abandoned Unintentionally 1 hour 6,950 6,950 Petition for Revival of an Application for Patent Abandoned for Failure to Notify the Office of a Foreign or International Filing 1 hour 2,400 2,400 Requests to Access, Inspect and Copy 12 minutes 18,650 3,730 Deposit Account Order Form 12 minutes 1,160 232 Certificates of Mailing/Transmission 1 minute, 48 seconds 590,000 17,700 Statement Under 37 CFR 3.73(b) 12 minutes 19,450 3,890 Non-publication Request 6 minutes 31,500 3,150 Rescission of Previous Non-publication Request (35 U.S.C. § 122(b)(2)(B)(ii)) and, if applicable, Notice of Foreign Filing (35 U.S.C. § 122(b)(2)(B)(iii)) 6 minutes 525 53 Electronic Filing System (EFS) Copy of Application for Publication 2 hours, 30 minutes 1,000 2,500 Copy of File Content Showing Redactions 4 hours 12 48 Copy of the Applicant or Patentee's Record of the Application (including copies of the correspondence, list of the correspondence, and statements verifying whether the record is complete or not) 1 hour 235 235 Request for Continued Examination (RCE) Transmittal 12 minutes 56,000 11,200 Request for Oral Hearing Before the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences 12 minutes 750 150 Request for Deferral of Examination 37 CFR 1.103(d) 12 minutes 53 11 Request for voluntary publication or republication 12 minutes 70 14 Applicant Initiated Interview Request Form 21 minutes 1,600 560 Petition for Request for Documents in a Form Other Than That Provided by 1.19 1 hour 50 50 Petitions under 37 CFR 1.17(f) include: 4 hours 3,300 13,200 Petition to Accord a Filing Date under 1.57(a) Petition to Accord a Filing Date under 1.153(e) Petition for Decision on a Question Not Specifically Provided For Petition to Suspend the Rules Petitions under 37 CFR 1.17(g) include: 2 hours 3,600 7,200 Petition to Access an Assignment Record Petition for Access to an Application Petition for Expungement and Return of Information Petition to Suspend Action in an Application Petitions under 37 CFR 1.17(h) include existing petition not covered in any collection: 1 hour 10,400 10,400 Petition for Accepting Color Drawings or Photographs Petition for Entry of a Model or Exhibit Petition to Withdraw an Application from Issue Petition to Defer Issuance of a Patent Request for Processing of Replacement Drawings to Include the Drawings in Any Patent Application Publication 1 hour 50 50 Processing Fee Under 37 CFR 1.17(i) Transmittal 5 minutes 500 40 Petition Fee Under 37 CFR 1.17(f),(g) and (h) Transmittal 5 minutes 17,300 1,384 Request to Retrieve Electronic Priority Application(s) Under 37 CFR 1.55(d) 8 minutes 36,800 4,784 Authorization to Permit Access to Application by Participating Offices Under 37 CFR 1.14(h) 6 minutes 21,000 2,100 Petition for Express Abandonment to Obtain a Refund 12 minutes 3,000 600 Pre-Appeal Brief Request for Review 30 minutes 3,200 1,600 Request for Corrected Filing Receipt 5 minutes 25,000 2,000 Request for Corrected Filing Receipt (electronic) 5 minutes 2,050 164 Petition to Make Special Under Accelerated Examination Program 12 hours 500 6,000 Total 2,604,029 3,157,840 Estimated Total Annual (non-hour) Respondent Cost Burden: $156,933,477. There are no capital start-up or maintenance costs associated with this information collection. However, this collection does have record keeping costs, postage costs, and filing fees. When submitting the information in this collection electronically, the applicant is strongly urged to retain a copy of the file submitted to the USPTO as evidence of authenticity and to keep the acknowledgment receipt as clear evidence that the file was received by the USPTO on the date noted. The USPTO estimates that it will take 5 seconds (0.001 hours) to print and retain a copy of the eIDS, the EFS application for publication and the request for corrected filing receipt submissions, and that approximately 50,050 submissions per year (47,000 eIDS, 1,000 EFS, and 2,050 corrected filing receipt) will use this option, for a total of 50 hours per year for printing this receipt. Using the paraprofessional rate of $90 per hour, the USPTO estimates that the record keeping cost associated with this collection will be $4,500 per year. The public may submit the paper forms and petitions in this collection to the USPTO by mail through the United States Postal Service. If the submission is sent by first-class mail, the public may also include a signed certification of the date of mailing in order to receive credit for timely filing. Therefore, the USPTO estimates that up to 2,553,979 submissions per year may be mailed to the USPTO at an average first-class postage cost of 63 cents, for a total postage cost of $1,609,007. There is also annual (non-hour) cost burden in the way of filing fees associated with this collection. The total estimated filing costs of $155,319,970 are calculated in the accompanying chart: Item Responses Filing fee ($) Total non-hour cost burden (a) × (b) (a) (b) (c) Submission of an Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) under 37 CFR 1.97(c) or (d) 42,200 $180.00 $7,596,000.00 Transmittal forms 1,039,500 None 0 One month extension of time under 37 CFR 1.136(a) 60,270 120.00 7,232,400.00 One month extension of time under 37 CFR 1.136(a) (small entity) 23,503 60.00 1,410,180.00 Two month extension of time under 37 CFR 1.136(a) 31,225 450.00 14,051,250.00 Two month extension of time under 37 CFR 1.136(a) (small entity) 12,891 225.00 2,900,475.00 Three month extension of time under 37 CFR 1.136(a) 32,724 1,020.00 33,378,480.00 Three month extension of time under 37 CFR 1.136(a) (small entity) 16,413 510.00 8,370,630.00 Four month extension of time under 37 CFR 1.136(a) 3,370 1,590.00 5,358,300.00 Four month extension of time under 37 CFR 1.136(a) (small entity) 2,267 795.00 1,802,265.00 Five month extension of time under 37 CFR 1.136(a) 2,163 2,160.00 4,672,080.00 Five month extension of time under 37 CFR 1.136(a) (small entity) 4,174 1,080.00 4,507,920.00 Extension of time under 37 CFR 1.136(b) 54 None 0 Express Abandonment under 37 CFR 1.138 13,825 None 0 Petition for express abandonment to avoid publication under 37 CFR 1.138(c)) 500 130.00 65,000.00 Statutory Disclaimer 11,250 130.00 1,462,500.00 Statutory Disclaimer (small entity) 3,750 65.00 243,750.00 Requests for Expedited Examination of a design application 130 900.00 117,000.00 Notice of Appeal 12,570 500.00 6,285,000.00 Notice of Appeal (small entity) 3,930 250.00 982,500.00 Information Disclosure Citations 1,830 None 0 Petition to Revive Unavoidably Abandoned Application 250 500.00 125,000.00 Petition to Revive Unavoidably Abandoned Application (small entity) 335 250.00 83,750.00 Petition to Revive Unintentionally Abandoned Application 3,700 1,500.00 5,550,000.00 Petition to Revive Unintentionally Abandoned Application (small entity) 3,250 750.00 2,437,500.00 Petition for Revival of an Application for Patent Abandoned for Failure to Notify the Office of a Foreign or International Filing 1,440 1,300.00 1,872,000.00 Petition for Revival of an Application for Patent Abandoned for Failure to Notify the Office of a Foreign or International Filing—Small Entity 960 650.00 624,000.00 Requests to Access, Inspect and Copy 18,650 None 0 Deposit Account Order Form 1,160 None 0 Certificates of Mailing/Transmission 590,000 None 0 Statement Under 37 CFR 3.73(b) 19,450 None 0 Non-publication Request 31,500 None 0 Rescission of Non-publication Request 525 None 0 Electronic Filing System (EFS) Copy of Application for Publication 1,000 None 0 Electronic Filing System (EFS) Copy of Application for Voluntary Publication or Republication 70 430.00 30,100.00 Copy of File Content Showing Redactions 12 None 0 Copy of the Applicant or Patentee's Record of the Application (including copies of the correspondence, list of the correspondence, and statements verifying whether the record is complete or not) 235 None 0 Request for Continued Examination (RCE) Transmittal 44,800 790.00 35,392,000.00 Request for Continued Examination (RCE) Transmittal (small entity) 11,200 395.00 4,424,000.00 Request for an Oral Hearing 600 1,000.00 600,000.00 Request for an Oral Hearing (small entity) 150 500.00 75,000.00 Processing fee for deferral of examination 53 430.00 22,790.00 Request for voluntary publication or republication 70 130.00 9,100.00 Applicant initiated interview request form 1,600 None 0 Petition for request for documents in a form other than that provided by 1.19 50 130.00 6,500.00 Petitions under 37 CFR 1.17(f) include: 3,300 400.00 1,320,000.00 Petition to Accord a Filing Date under 1.57(a) Petition to Accord a Filing Date under 1.153(e) Petition for Decision on a Question Not Specifically Provided For Petition to Suspend the Rules Petitions under 37 CFR 1.17(g) include: 3,600 200.00 720,000.00 Petition to Access an Assignment Record Petition for Access to an Application Petition for Expungement and Return of Information Petition to Suspend Action in an Application Petitions under 37 CFR 1.17(h) include existing petition not covered in any collection: 10,400 130.00 1,352,000.00 Petition for Accepting Color Drawings or Photographs Petition for Entry of a Model or Exhibit Petition to Withdraw an Application from Issue Petition to Defer Issuance of a Patent Request for processing of replacement drawings to include the drawings in any patent application publication 50 130.00 6,500.00 Processing fee under 37 CFR 1.17(I) transmittal 500 130.00 65,000.00 Petition Fee Under 37 CFR 1.17(f),(g) and (h) Transmittal 17,300 None 0 Request to retrieve electronic priority application(s) under 37 CFR 1.55(d) 36,800 None 0 Authorization to permit access to application by participating offices under 37 CFR 1.17(h) 21,000 None 0 Petition for express abandonment to obtain a refund 3,000 None 0 Pre-Appeal Brief Request for Review (filed with the Notice of Appeal) 2,400 None 0 Pre-Appeal Brief Request for Review (filed later than the Notice of Appeal) 800 130.00 104,000.00 Correction Request Form 25,000 None 0 Correction Request Form (electronic) 2,050 None 0 Petition to Make Special Under Accelerated Examination Program 500 130.000 65,000.00 Total 2,176,299 155,319,970.00 The USPTO estimates that the total (non-hour) respondent cost burden for this collection in the form of record keeping costs, postage costs, and filing fees is $156,933,477. IV. Request for Comments Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden (including hours and cost) of the proposed collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology. Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized or included in the request for OMB approval of this information collection; they will also become a matter of public record. Dated: May 22, 2006. Susan K. Brown, Records Officer, USPTO, Office of the Chief Information Officer, Architecture, Engineering and Technical Services, Data Architecture and Services Division. [FR Doc. E6-8241 Filed 5-26-06; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 3510-16-P --- Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/documents/fr%3AE6-8241. Public record. Not legal advice.