2015-17056. Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request; “Post Patent Public Submissions”

The Department of Commerce will submit to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for clearance the following proposal for collection of information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. chapter 35).

Agency: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Commerce.

Title: Post Patent Public Submissions.

OMB Control Number: 0651-0067.

Form Number(s):

• PTO/SB/42.

Type of Request: Regular.

Number of Respondents: 240.

Average Time per Response: 10 hours.

Burden Hours: 2,400.

Cost Burden: $57.50.

Needs and Uses: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is required by 35 U.S.C. 131 et seq. to examine an application for patent and, when appropriate, issue a patent. The provisions of 35 U.S.C. 301 and 37 CFR 1.501 govern the ability of a person to submit into the file of an issued patent (i) prior art consisting of patents or printed publications which the person making the submission believes to have a bearing on the patentability of any claim of the patent, and (ii) statements of the patent owner filed by the patent owner in a proceeding before a Federal court or the USPTO in which the patent owner took a position on the scope of any claim of the patent.

Affected Public: Individuals and housholds; businesses or other for-profits; not-for-profit institutions.

Frequency: On occasion.

Respondent's Obligation: Required to obtain or retain benefits.

OMB Desk Officer: Nicholas A. Fraser, email: [e-mail].

Once submitted, the request will be publicly available in electronic format through reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view Department of Commerce collections currently under review by OMB.

Further information can be obtained by:

• Email: [e-mail]. Include “0651-0067 copy request” in the subject line of the message.
• Mail: Marcie Lovett, Records Management Division Director, Office of the Chief Information Officer, United States Patent and Trademark Office, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450.

Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information collection should be sent on or before August 12, 2015 to Nicholas A. Fraser, OMB Desk Officer, via email to [e-mail], or by fax to 202-395-5167, marked to the attention of Nicholas A. Fraser.

Dated: July 1, 2015.

Marcie Lovett,

Records Management Division Director, USPTO, Office of the Chief Information Officer.