14766 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 49 / Tuesday, March 13, 2012 / Notices 

Include ‘‘0651–0027 copy request’’ in 

the subject line of the message. 

• Mail: Susan K. Fawcett, Records 

Officer, Office of the Chief Information 

Officer, United States Patent and 

Trademark Office, P.O. Box 1450, 

Alexandria, VA 22313–1450. 

Written comments and 

recommendations for the proposed 

information collection should be sent on 

or before April 12, 2012 to Nicholas A. 

Fraser, OMB Desk Officer, via email to 

Nicholas_A._Fraser@omb.eop.gov, or by 

fax to 202–395–5167, marked to the 

attention of Nicholas A. Fraser. 

Dated: March 8, 2012. 

Susan K. Fawcett, 

Records Officer, USPTO, Office of the Chief 

Information Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2012–5989 Filed 3–12–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–16–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

United States Patent and Trademark 

Office 

Patents for Humanity Program 

(Formerly Humanitarian Program) 

ACTION: Proposed collection; comment 

request. 

SUMMARY: 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 this revision of a currently 

approved collection, as required by the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 

Public Law 104–13 (44 U.S.C. 

3506(c)(2)(A)). 

DATES: Written comments must be 

submitted on or before May 14, 2012. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by any of the following methods: 

• Email: 

InformationCollection@uspto.gov. 

Include ‘‘0651–0066 Patents for 

Humanity Program comment’’ in the 

subject line of the message. 

• Mail: Susan K. Fawcett, Records 

Officer, Office of the Chief Information 

Officer, United States Patent and 

Trademark Office, P.O. Box 1450, 

Alexandria, VA 22313–1450. 

• Federal Rulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Requests for additional information 

should be directed to: Edward Elliott, 

Expert Advisor, Office of Policy and 

External Affairs, United States Patent 

and Trademark Office, P.O. Box 1450, 

Alexandria, VA 22313–1450; by 

telephone at 571–272–9300; or by email 

to Edward.Elliott@uspto.gov. 

Additional information about this 

collection is also available at http:// 

www.reginfo.gov under ‘‘Information 

Collection Review.’’ 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

I. Abstract 

The United States Patent and 

Trademark Office (USPTO) is 

conducting a voluntary pilot program to 

incentivize the distribution of patented 

technologies or products to address 

humanitarian needs. This pilot program 

is open to any patent owners or patent 

licensees, including inventors who have 

not assigned their ownership rights to 

others, assignees, and exclusive or nonexclusive licensees. The USPTO plans 

to collect information from applicants 

that describe what actions they have 

taken with their patented technology to 

address humanitarian needs among an 

impoverished population, or how they 

have furthered research by others on 

technologies for humanitarian purposes. 

Applications will be considered in four 

categories: Medical Technology, Food 

and Nutrition, Clean Technology, and 

Information Technology. It is expected 

that inventions from any field of 

technology will be eligible for the 

program, as long as they are applied to 

one of the four categories. 

This pilot program is a follow-up to 

the responses received from the 

agency’s ‘‘Request for Comments on 

Incentivizing Humanitarian 

Technologies and Licensing Through 

the Intellectual Property System’’ 

published September 20, 2010. On 

February 8, 2012, the USPTO published 

a notice in the Federal Register 

announcing the pilot program and 

outlining the procedures for 

participation in it. The USPTO plans to 

review the results from this pilot 

program to determine whether it should 

be extended. 

In order to participate in this program, 

applicants must submit an application 

describing how their actions satisfy the 

competition criteria to address 

humanitarian issues. These applications 

may be up to five pages long and can be 

supplemented with additional 

supporting materials. The USPTO has 

developed two application forms that 

applicants can use to apply for 

participation in the Patents for 

Humanity Pilot Program—one 

application covers the humanitarian 

uses of technologies or products and the 

other application covers humanitarian 

research. There is also a form where 

applicants provide their contact 

information which the USPTO uses to 

notify applicants that they have been 

selected for an award. The applications 

must be submitted electronically 

through the http:// 

patentsforhumanity.challenge.gov Web 

site. Submitted applications will be 

available on the public Web site after 

being screened for inappropriate 

material. 

The applications will be reviewed by 

independent judges. A selection 

committee composed of representatives 

from other federal agencies and 

laboratories will make 

recommendations for the awards based 

on the judges’reviews. Those applicants 

who are selected for an award will 

receive a certificate redeemable to 

accelerate select matters before the 

USPTO and public recognition for their 

efforts, including an awards ceremony 

at the USPTO. The certificates can be 

redeemed to accelerate one of the 

following matters: An ex parte 

reexamination proceeding, including 

one appeal to the Board of Patent 

Appeals and Interferences (BPAI) from 

that proceeding; a patent application, 

including one appeal to the BPAI from 

that application; or an appeal to the 

BPAI of a claim twice rejected in a 

patent application or reissue application 

or finally rejected in an ex parte 

reexamination, without accelerating the 

underlying matter which generated the 

appeal. The certificates cannot be 

transferred to other parties. 

The USPTO obtained an emergency 

clearance from OMB for this collection, 

which was approved on January 25, 

2012. This approval expires on July 31, 

2012l. 

II. Method of Collection 

Electronically through the http:// 

patentsforhumanity.challenge.gov Web 

site. 

III. Data 

OMB Number: 0651–0066. 

Form Number(s): N/A. 

Type of Review: Revision of an 

existing collection. 

Affected Public: Businesses or other 

for-profits, non-profit institutions, and 

individuals. 

Estimated Number of Respondents: 

1,010 responses per year, with an 

estimated 33% (333) submitted by small 

entities. 

Estimated Time per Response: The 

USPTO estimates that it will take the 

public approximately four hours to 

complete the humanitarian program 

application and one hour to complete 

the petition to extend the redemption 

period, depending on the nature of the 

information. These estimated times 

include gathering the necessary 

information, preparing the application 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES

Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 49 / Tuesday, March 13, 2012 / Notices 14767 

and any supplemental supporting 

materials, and submitting the completed 

request to the USPTO. 

Estimated Total Annual Respondent 

Burden Hours: 4,010 hours. 

Estimated Total Annual Respondent 

Cost Burden: $709,400. The USPTO 

estimates that both attorneys and 

paralegals will complete the information 

in this collection. Using the professional 

hourly rate of $340 for attorneys in 

private firms and a paraprofessional 

hourly rate of $122 for the paralegals, 

the USPTO estimates $709,400 per year 

for the respondent cost burden for this 

collection. 

Item 

Estimated time 

for response 

(hours) 

Estimated 

annual 

responses 

Estimated 

annual 

burden hours 

Humanitarian Program Application .............................................................................................. ........................ 1,000 ........................

• Attorney ............................................................................................................................. 1 ........................ 1,000 

• Paralegal ........................................................................................................................... 3 ........................ 3,000 

Petition to Extend the Redemption Period of the Humanitarian Awards Certificate .................. 1 10 10 

Totals .................................................................................................................................... ........................ 1,010 4,010 

Estimated Total Annual Non-hour 

Respondent Cost Burden: $0. This 

collection has no annual (non-hour) 

postage, operation or maintenance, or 

fee costs. 

IV. Request for Comments 

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. 

Dated: March 8, 2012. 

Susan K. Fawcett, 

Records Officer, USPTO, Office of the Chief 

Information Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2012–5988 Filed 3–12–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–16–P 

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 

Office of the Secretary 

[Transmittal Nos. 12–14] 

36(b)(1) Arms Sales Notification 

AGENCY: Department of Defense, Defense 

Security Cooperation Agency. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Department of Defense is 

publishing the unclassified text of a 

section 36(b)(1) arms sales notification. 

This is published to fulfill the 

requirements of section 155 of Public 

Law 104–164 dated July 21, 1996. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. 

B. English, DSCA/DBO/CFM, (703) 601– 

3740. 

The following is a copy of a letter to 

the Speaker of the House of 

Representatives, Transmittals 12–14 

with attached transmittal and policy 

justification. 

Dated: March 8, 2012. 

Aaron Siegel, 

Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison 

Officer, Department of Defense. 

BILLING CODE 5001–06–P 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES