SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Title: Native American Tribal Insignia Database.

OMB Control Number: 0651-0048.

Abstract: The Trademark Law Treaty Implementation Act of 1998 (Pub. L. 105-330, 302, 112 Stat. 3071) requires the USPTO to study issues surrounding the protection of the official insignia of federally and state-recognized Native American tribes under trademark law. The USPTO conducted the study and presented a report to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees on November 30, 1999.¹ One of the recommendations made in the report was that the USPTO create and maintain an accurate and comprehensive database containing the official insignia of all federally and state-recognized Native American tribes. In accordance with this recommendation, the Senate Committee on Appropriations directed ( printed page 31705) the USPTO to create this database. The USPTO published the final procedures for establishing and maintaining the tribal insignia database in the Federal Register on August 24, 2001 (66 FR 44603).²

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), bars 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 to evaluate 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 database, included within the trademark search system, is available to the public on the USPTO website, and includes an online help program for using the system. More information about the program is available on the website at https://www.uspto.gov/​trademarks/​laws/​native-american-tribal-insignia.

Tribes are not required to request that their official insignia be included in the database. 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. The inclusion of an official tribal insignia in the database does not create any legal presumption of validity or priority, does not carry any of the benefits of federal trademark registration, and is not a determination as to whether a particular insignia would be refused registration as a trademark pursuant to 15 U.S.C. 1051 et seq.

Requests from federally recognized tribes to enter an official insignia into the database must be submitted in writing and include: (1) a depiction of the insignia, including the name of the tribe and the correspondence address; (2) a copy of the tribal resolution adopting the insignia in question as the official insignia of the tribe; and (3) a statement, signed by an official with authority to bind the tribe, confirming that the insignia included with the request is identical to the official insignia adopted by the tribal resolution.

Requests from state-recognized tribes must also be in writing and include each of the three items described above that are submitted by federally recognized tribes. Additionally, requests from state-recognized tribes must include either: (a) a document issued by a state official that demonstrates the state's determination that the entity is a Native American tribe; or (b) a citation to a state statute designating the entity as a Native American tribe.

The USPTO then enters insignia that have been properly submitted by federally or state-recognized Native American tribes into the database and does not investigate whether the insignia is actually the official insignia of the tribe making the request.

This information collection includes the information the USPTO requires to enter an official insignia for a federally or state-recognized Native American tribe into a database of such insignia. There are no forms associated with this information collection.

Forms: None.

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

Affected Public: State, local, and tribal governments.

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

Frequency: On occasion.

Estimated Number of Annual Respondents: 39 respondents.

Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 39 responses.

Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that the responses in this information collection will take the public approximately 1 hour to complete. This includes the time to gather the necessary information, create the document, and submit the completed item to the USPTO.

Estimated Total Annual Respondent Burden Hours: 39 hours.

Estimated Total Annual Respondent Non-hourly Cost Burden: $25.

Since the publication of the 60-day notice, the USPTO has updated the postage rate associated with this information collection from $12.10 to $12.25. This results in an increase of $1 in non-hourly cost burden, for a new estimated total annual respondent non-hourly cost burden of $25.