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[Federal Register: June 15, 2001 (Volume 66, Number 116)]
[Notices]               
[Page 32603-32604]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr15jn01-40]                         

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Patent and Trademark Office

 
Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has submitted 
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 (USPTO).
    Title: Patent Processing (Updating) (Proposed Amendment to Requests 
for Continuing Examination and Forms for Reconstruction of Unlocatable 
Files, Request for Oral Appeal Hearing, and Request for Deferral of 
Examination).
    Form Numbers: PTO/SB/08A/08B/21/22/23/24/25/26/27/30/31/35/36/42/
43/61/ 61PCT/62/63/64/64PCT/67/68/91/92/96/97 and the proposed addition 
of PTO/SB/32/37 and PTO-2053-A/B, PTO-2054-A/B, and PTO-2055-A/B.
    Agency Approval Number: 0651-0031.
    Type of Request: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Burden: 1,021,941 hours.
    Number of Respondents: 2,247,389 responses.
    Avg. Hours Per Response: The USPTO estimates that it will take the 
public approximately 12 minutes to gather information, prepare, and 
submit a Request for Continued Examination, a Request for an Oral 
Hearing before the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences, or a 
Request for Deferral of Examination. The new forms associated with the 
reconstruction of unlocatable files will not affect the burden for this 
collection.
    Needs and Uses: This collection of information supports a proposed 
rulemaking entitled ``Elimination of Continued Prosecution Application 
Practice as to Utility and Plant Patent Applications,'' which will 
eliminate the Continued Prosecution Application (CPA) in favor of the 
Request for Continued Examination (RCE) practice for utility and plant 
applications. The USPTO is retaining the current CPA practice for 
design applications only. Additionally, the USPTO is adding five new 
forms to this collection pertaining to the reconstruction of 
unlocatable patent and application files, the request for an oral 
hearing before the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences, and the 
request for deferral of examination of a non-reissue utility or plant 
application. The public uses the forms in this collection to request 
continued examination of a previously submitted application, to assist 
the USPTO in reconstructing a current copy of a missing patent or 
application file, to file a written request for an oral hearing ``in a 
separate paper'' before the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences, 
and to request deferred examination of a patent application for up to 
three years from the earliest filing date for which a benefit is 
claimed. The USPTO uses the information collected from the public to 
process and initiate continued examination of a previously submitted 
application, to notify an applicant or patent owner that an application 
or patent file is unlocatable and to request a copy of the applicant's 
or patentee's record of the application or patent file, and to process 
and consider requests for oral hearings before the Board of Patent 
Appeals and Interferences and requests for deferral of examination.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households, businesses or other 
for-profits, not-for-profit institutions, farms, the Federal 
Government, and state, local or tribal governments.
    Frequency: On occasion.
    Respondent's Obligation: Required to obtain or retain benefits.
    OMB Desk Officer: David Rostker, (202) 395-3897.
    Copies of the above information collection proposal can be obtained 
by calling or writing Susan Brown, Records Officer, Data Administration 
Division, Office of Data Management, United States Patent and Trademark 
Office, Crystal Park 3, 3rd Floor, Suite 310, Washington, D.C., 20231, 
by phone at (703) 308-7400, or via the Internet at 
<A HREF="mailto:susan.brown@uspto.gov">susan.brown@uspto.gov</A>.
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be sent within 30 days of publication to David

[[Page 32604]]

Rostker, OMB Desk Officer, Room 10236, New Executive Office Building, 
725 17th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20503.

    Dated: June , 2001.
Susan K. Brown,
Records Officer, Data Administration Division, Office of Data 
Management.
[FR Doc. 01-15095 Filed 6-14-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-16-P

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