Proposed collection; comment request.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on the revision of a continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104–13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)).
Written comments must be submitted on or before February 21, 2006.
You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
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Requests for additional information should be directed to Robert J. Spar, Director, Office of Patent Legal Administration, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313–1450; by telephone at 571–272–7700; or by e-mail at
Under 35 U.S.C. 41 and 37 CFR 1.20(e)–(i) and 1.362–1.378, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) charges fees for maintaining in force all utility patents based on applications filed on or after December 12, 1980. Payment of these maintenance fees is due at 3
Payments of maintenance fees that are submitted during the six-month grace period must include the appropriate surcharge as indicated by 37 CFR 1.20(h). Submissions of maintenance fee payments and surcharges must include the relevant patent number and the corresponding United States application number in order to identify the correct patent and ensure proper crediting of the fee being paid.
If the USPTO refuses to accept and record a maintenance fee payment that was submitted prior to the expiration of a patent, the patentee may petition the Director under 37 CFR 1.377 to accept and record the maintenance fee. This petition must be accompanied by the fee indicated in 37 CFR 1.17(g), which may be refunded if it is determined that the refusal to accept the maintenance fee was due to an error by the USPTO.
If a patent has expired due to nonpayment of a maintenance fee, the patentee may petition the Director to accept a delayed payment of the maintenance fee under 35 U.S.C. 41(c) and 37 CFR 1.378. The Director may accept the payment of a maintenance fee after the expiration of the patent if the petitioner shows to the satisfaction of the Director that the delay in payment was unavoidable or unintentional. Petitions to accept unavoidably or unintentionally delayed payment must also be accompanied by the required maintenance fee and appropriate surcharge under 37 CFR 1.20(i). If the Director accepts the maintenance fee
Customers may submit maintenance fee payments and surcharges incurred during the six-month grace period before patent expiration by using the Maintenance Fee Transmittal Form or by paying online through the USPTO Web site. However, to pay a maintenance fee after patent expiration, the maintenance fee payment and the appropriate surcharge must be filed together with a petition to accept unavoidably or unintentionally delayed payment. These delayed payments and petitions cannot be filed electronically. The USPTO accepts online maintenance fee payments by credit card, electronic funds transfer (EFT), or deposit account through the USPTO Web site. Otherwise, non-electronic payments may be made by check, credit card, or USPTO deposit account.
The rules of practice (37 CFR 1.33(d) and 1.363) permit applicants, patentees, assignees, or their representatives of record to specify a “fee address” for correspondence related to maintenance fees that is separate from the correspondence address associated with a patent or application. A fee address must be an address that is associated with a USPTO customer number. Customer numbers may be requested by using the Request for Customer Number form (PTO/SB/125), which is covered under OMB Control Number 0651–0035 “Representative and Address Provisions.” Maintaining a correct and updated address is necessary so that fee-related correspondence from the USPTO will be properly received by the applicant, patentee, assignee, or authorized representative. If a separate fee address is not specified for a patent or application, the USPTO will direct fee-related correspondence to the correspondence address of record.
The USPTO offers forms to assist the public with providing the information covered by this collection, including the information necessary to submit a patent maintenance fee payment (PTO/SB/45), to file a petition to accept an unavoidably or unintentionally delayed maintenance fee payment (PTO/SB/65 and PTO/SB/66), and to designate or change a fee address (PTO/SB/47). No forms are provided for the petitions under 37 CFR 1.377 and 1.378(e).
By mail, facsimile, or hand delivery to the USPTO. Maintenance fee payments and surcharges for payments made during the six-month grace period before patent expiration may be submitted electronically.
Estimated Total Annual Non-hour Respondent Cost Burden: $436,485,591. There are no capital start-up costs or maintenance costs associated with this information collection. However, this collection does have annual (non-hour) costs in the form of recordkeeping costs, postage costs, and filing costs.
The recordkeeping costs for this collection are associated with submitting electronic maintenance fee payments through the USPTO Web site. It is recommended that customers who pay maintenance fees online print and retain a copy of the updated payment statement that appears on the screen after the transaction has been completed as a receipt and proof of timely payment. The USPTO estimates that it will take 5 seconds (0.001 hours) to
The public may submit the forms and petitions in this collection to the USPTO by mail through the United States Postal Service. If the submission is sent by first-class mail, the public may also include a signed certification of the date of mailing in order to receive credit for timely filing. The USPTO estimates that the average first-class postage cost for a mailed submission will be 39 cents, and that customers filing a Maintenance Fee Transmittal Form, a “Fee Address” Indication Form, or any of the petitions included in this collection may choose to mail their submissions to the USPTO. Therefore, the USPTO estimates that up to 322,267 submissions per year may be mailed to the USPTO, for a total postage cost of $125,684 per year.
This collection also has filing costs in the form of patent maintenance fees, surcharges for late payment of maintenance fees, and petition fees. Under 37 CFR 1.20(e)–(g), the patent maintenance fees due at 3
The total non-hour respondent cost burden for this collection in the form of recordkeeping costs, postage costs, and filing costs is estimated to be $436,485,591 per year.
Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden (including hours and cost) of the proposed collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, e.g., the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology.
Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized or included in the request for OMB approval of this information collection; they also will become a matter of public record.