2020-11617. Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment Request; Native American Tribal Insignia Database  

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    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 the general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and continuing information collections, 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 March 16, 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: Native American Tribal Insignia Database

    OMB Control Number: 0651-0048.

    Form Number(s): None.

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

    Number of Respondents: 5 respondents.

    Average Hours per Response: The USPTO estimates that a recognized Native American tribe will require an average of 1 hour to complete a request to record an official insignia, including Start Printed Page 32362time to prepare the appropriate documents and submit the completed request to the USPTO.

    Burden Hours: 5 hours.

    Estimated Total Annual Non-Hour Respondent Cost Burden: $38.

    Needs and Uses: The Trademark Law Treaty Implementation Act of 1998 (Pub. L. 105-330, 302, 112 Stat. 3071) required the USPTO to study issues surrounding the protection of the official insignia of federally and state-recognized Native American tribes under trademark law. At the direction of Congress, the USPTO created a database containing the official insignia of recognized Native American tribes. This database is available at the USPTO's website, as part of the USPTO's Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS). This information collection is used by the USPTO to enter an official insignia submitted by a federally or state-recognized Native American tribe into the database.

    The USPTO database of official tribal insignias provides evidence of what a federally or state-recognized Native American tribe considers to be its official insignia. Section 2(a) of the Trademark Act, 15 U.S.C. 1052(a), disallows the registration of marks that falsely suggest a connection with a non-sponsoring person or institution, including a Native American tribe. The database thereby assists trademark examining attorneys in their examination of applications for trademark registration by serving as a reference for determining the registrability of a mark that may falsely suggest a connection to the official insignia of a Native American tribe. The entry of an official insignia into the database does not confer any rights to the tribe that submitted the insignia, and entry is not the legal equivalent of registering the insignia as a trademark under 15 U.S.C. 1051 et seq.

    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 0651-0048.

    Further information can be obtained by:

    • Email: InformationCollection@uspto.gov. Include “0651-0048 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.
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    Kimberly Hardy,

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

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    [FR Doc. 2020-11617 Filed 5-28-20; 8:45 am]

    BILLING CODE 3510-16-P

Document Information

Published:
05/29/2020
Department:
Patent and Trademark Office
Entry Type:
Notice
Document Number:
2020-11617
Pages:
32361-32362 (2 pages)
PDF File:
2020-11617.Pdf