2024-14902. Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment Request; Trademark Submissions Regarding Correspondence and Regarding Attorney Representation

Document Headings

Document headings vary by document type but may contain the following:

1. the agency or agencies that issued and signed a document
2. the number of the CFR title and the number of each part the document amends, proposes to amend, or is directly related to
3. the agency docket number / agency internal file number
4. the RIN which identifies each regulatory action listed in the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions

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Department of Commerce

Patent and Trademark Office

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 comments 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 April 17, 2024 during a 60-day comment period (89 FR 27420). This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comment.

Agency: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Department of Commerce.

Title: Trademark Submissions Regarding Correspondence and Regarding Attorney Representation.

OMB Control Number: 0651-0056.

Needs and Uses: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) administers the Trademark Act (Act), 15 U.S.C. 1051 et seq., which provides for the federal registration of trademarks, service marks, collective trademarks and service marks, collective membership marks, and certification marks. Individuals and businesses that use or intend to use such marks in commerce may file an application to register their marks with the USPTO.

Such individuals and businesses may also submit various communications to the USPTO regarding their pending applications or registered trademarks, including providing additional information needed to process a pending application, filing amendments to the application, or filing the papers necessary to keep a trademark in force.

In the majority of circumstances, individuals and businesses retain attorneys to handle these matters. As such, these parties may also submit communications to the USPTO regarding the appointment of attorneys to represent applicants or registrants in the application or post-registration processes or, in the case of applicants or registrants who are not domiciled in the United States, the appointment of domestic representatives on whom may be served notices of process in proceedings affecting the mark, the revocation of an attorney's or domestic representative's appointment, and requests for permission to withdraw from representation.

The regulations implementing the Act are set forth in 37 CFR part 2. Regulations regarding representation of others before the USPTO are also set forth in 37 CFR part 11. In addition to governing the registration of trademarks, the Act and regulations govern the appointment and revocation of attorneys and domestic representatives and provide the specifics for filing requests for permission to withdraw as the attorney of record. The information in this information collection is available to the public.

This information collection covers various actions concerning the appointment and retention of attorneys and domestic representatives in trademark registrations. The information in this collection is also a matter of public record and is utilized by the public for a variety of private business purposes related to establishing and enforcing trademark rights.

Forms:

• PTO-2201 (Request for Withdrawal as Attorney of Record/Update of USPTO's Database After Power of Attorney Ends)
• PTO-2300 (Change Address or Representation Form)

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.

Frequency: On occasion.

Estimated Number of Annual Respondents: 486,000 respondents.

Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 486,000 responses.

Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that the responses in this information collection will take the public approximately between 15 minutes (0.25 hours) and 1 hour to complete. This includes the time to gather the necessary information, create the appropriate documents, and submit the completed request to the USPTO.

Estimated Total Annual Respondent Burden Hours: 156,650 hours.

Estimated Total Annual Respondent Non-Hourly Cost Burden: $508.

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, 0651-0056.

Further information can be obtained by:

• Email: [e-mail]. Include “0651-0056 information request” in the subject line of the message.
• Mail: Justin Isaac, Office of the Chief Administrative Officer, United States Patent and Trademark Office, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450.

Justin Isaac,

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