Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 169 / Thursday, August 30, 2018 / Notices 44265 

1The USPTO has no authority to treat an 

international application filed by the alternative 

electronic filing means prescribed by this notice as 

having been filed in the electronic format 

prescribed by the Administrative Instructions under 

the PCT for the electronic filing discount in the 

international filing fee or to waive the international 

filing fee. 

2New patent applications hand carried to the 

USPTO must be delivered to the Customer Service 

Window in the Randolph Building, 401 Dulany 

Street, Alexandria, Virginia 22314 (MPEP section 

501). 

3Applicants are reminded that applications filed 

under 37 CFR 1.53 (except a design continued 

prosecution application (CPA) under 37 CFR 

1.53(d)), PCT international applications, and 

international design applications cannot be 

submitted by facsimile transmission. See 37 CFR 

1.6(d). 

4Patent Center is a new patent electronic filing 

and management system that is in development, 

and which will replace EFS-Web and the Patent 

Application Information and Retrieval (PAIR) 

system. Further information concerning Patent 

Center is available on the USPTO’s internet website 

at https://www.uspto.gov/patent/initiatives/aboutpatent-center. 

5The term ‘‘filing receipt’’ as used in this notice 

also includes a Notification of the International 

Application Number and of the International Filing 

Date (PCT/RO/105) in a PCT application. 

not filed by electronic means as 

prescribed by the Director of the 

USPTO. An application filed by the 

alternative electronic filing means 

prescribed by this notice during a 

designated significant unplanned 

electronic business system outage will 

be treated as an application filed by 

electronic means for purposes of section 

10(h) of the Leahy-Smith America 

Invents Act (and by the USPTO’s 

electronic filing system for purposes of 

37 CFR 1.16(t) and 1.445(a)(1)(ii)). Thus, 

the non-electronic filing fee set forth in 

37 CFR 1.16(t) and 1.445(a)(1)(ii) is not 

required for an application filed by the 

alternative electronic filing means 

prescribed by this notice during a 

designated significant unplanned 

electronic business system outage. The 

application will also be treated as being 

filed by the USPTO’s electronic filing 

system for purposes of calculation of the 

application size fee set forth in 37 CFR 

1.52(f)(2) and the reduced basic filing 

fee for small entities who file in 

compliance with the USPTO’s 

electronic filing system (37 CFR 1.16(a)). 

The application, however, will not be 

treated as being filed by the USPTO’s 

electronic filing system for purposes of 

the electronic filing discount in the 

international filing fee (PCT Rule 15 and 

37 CFR 1.445(b)).1

The alternative electronic filing 

means during designated significant 

unplanned electronic business system 

outages is as follows: The applicant 

must file the patent application during 

a designated significant unplanned 

electronic business system outage by an 

alternative filing method permitted by 

37 CFR 1.6, such as by the Priority Mail 

Express® service of the U.S. Postal 

Service under 37 CFR 1.10 or hand 

delivery 2 to the USPTO. See MPEP 

§ 502.05; see also Legal Framework for 

Electronic Filing System—Web (EFSWeb), 74 FR 55200, 55204 (Oct. 27, 

2009).3 Applicants are reminded that 

unless an application is filed by the 

Priority Mail Express® service of the 

U.S. Postal Service in accordance with 

37 CFR 1.10, the filing date of the 

application will be the date on which 

the application is received at the 

USPTO headquarters in Alexandria, 

Virginia. See 37 CFR 1.6. In addition, a 

copy of the application must be filed via 

EFS-Web (or Patent Center 4) no later 

than: (1) One month from the date a 

filing receipt 5 is first issued for the 

application, and be accompanied by a 

request for refund, if the non-electronic 

filing fee has been paid; or (2) the 

expiration of the period for reply to a 

notice requiring payment of the nonelectronic filing fee (e.g., a notice to file 

missing parts under 37 CFR 1.53(f)) if 

the non-electronic filing fee has not 

been paid. 

The copy of the application filed via 

EFS-Web (or Patent Center) must be 

accompanied by a statement that it is a 

true copy of the original application as 

filed by the alternative filing method 

during the designated significant 

unplanned electronic business system 

outage. The copy of the application also 

must be filed via EFS-Web (or Patent 

Center) as a follow-on paper in the 

application, and not as a new 

application. If the copy of the 

application is filed via EFS-Web (or 

Patent Center) as a new application, the 

copy will be treated as a new 

application, and the application filed by 

an alternative filing method will not be 

treated as an application filed by the 

prescribed alternative electronic filing 

means. The copy of the application 

should not be filed until applicant has 

received either a filing receipt or other 

USPTO notice identifying the 

application number assigned to the 

application. 

Dated: August 27, 2018. 

Andrei Iancu, 

Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual 

Property and Director of the United States 

Patent and Trademark Office. 

[FR Doc. 2018–18897 Filed 8–29–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–16–P 

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 

[Docket No. ED–2018–ICCD–0072] 

2019–20 National Postsecondary 

Student Aid Study (NPSAS: 20) Field 

Test Institution Contacting and 

Enrollment List Collection; 

Cancellation 

AGENCY: National Center for Education 

Statistics (NCES), Department of 

Education (ED). 

ACTION: Notice of cancellation. 

SUMMARY: On July 3, 2018, the 

Department of Education (ED) published 

a 60 day comment period notice in the 

Federal Register with FR DOC #2018– 

14441 (Page 31383, Column 2 and 3; 

Page 31384, Column 1 and 2) seeking 

public comment for an information 

collection entitled, ‘‘2019–20 National 

Postsecondary Student Aid Study 

(NPSAS:20) Field Test Institution 

Contacting and Enrollment List 

Collection’’ conducted by the National 

Center for Education Statistics (NCES). 

The Department of Education would 

like to cancel that public comment 

period notice. NCES intends to conduct 

the NPSAS:20 full-scale study as 

planned from October 2019 to 

November 2020. In March 2019, NCES 

will publish a notice in the Federal 

Register for a 60-day public comment 

period followed by a 30-day comment 

period for NPSAS:20 Full-Scale 

Institution Contacting and Enrollment 

List Collection clearance request. 

The NPSAS:20 full-scale study will 

use methods and survey items that have 

already been used in previous cycles of 

NPSAS. In addition, NCES is 

developing a cognitive testing plan that 

will allow pre-testing of a subset of 

questions from the planned NPSAS:20 

student interview. NCES expects to 

submit a clearance request for these 

cognitive testing activities by July 2019. 

The Acting Director, Information 

Collection Clearance Division, Office of 

the Chief Privacy Officer, Office of 

Management, hereby issues a 

cancellation notice as required by the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. 

Dated: August 27, 2018. 

Kate Mullan, 

Acting Director, Information Collection 

Clearance Division, Office of the Chief Privacy 

Officer, Office of Management. 

[FR Doc. 2018–18840 Filed 8–29–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4000–01–P 


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