2021-25559. Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment Request; Fee Deficiency Submissions

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 August 25, 2021 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: Fee Deficiency Submissions.

OMB Control Number: 0651-0070.

Form Numbers:

• PTO/SB/460 (Fee Deficiency Payment Form) .

Type of Review: Extension and revision of a currently approved information collection.

Estimated Number of Respondents: 2,000 respondents per year.

Estimated Number of Responses: 3,002 responses per year.

Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that it will take the public approximately 2 hours to gather the necessary information, create the document, and submit the completed information to the USPTO.

Estimated Total Annual Respondent Burden Hours: 6,004 hours.

Estimated Total Annual Non-Hour Cost Burden: $248.

Needs and Uses: Under section 10(b) of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (“Act”) ( See Pub. L. 112-29, 125 Stat. 283 (2011)), eligible small entities shall receive a 50 percent fee reduction from the undiscounted fees for filing, searching, examining, issuing, appealing, and maintaining patent applications and patents. The Act further provides that micro entities shall receive a 75 percent fee reduction from the undiscounted fees for filing, searching, examining, issuing, appealing, and maintaining patent applications and patents.

This information collection covers the submissions made by patent applicants and patentees to excuse small and micro entity fee payment errors, in accordance with the procedures set forth in 37 CFR 1.28(c) and 1.29(k). Specifically, 37 CFR 1.28(c) provides a procedure by which patent applicants and patentees may be excused for erroneous payments of fees in the small entity amount. 37 CFR 1.29(k) provides a procedure by which patent applicants and patentees may be excused for erroneous payments of fees in the micro entity amount.

Affected Public: Private sector; individuals or 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 0651-0070.

Further information can be obtained by:

• Email: [e-mail]. Include “0651-0070 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.

Kimberly Hardy,

Information Collections Officer, Office of the Chief Administrative Officer, United States Patent and Trademark Office.