21086 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 68 / Monday, April 9, 2012 / Notices 

Dated: April 4, 2012. 

Lisa Manning, 

Acting Chief, Endangered Species Division, 

Office of Protected Resources, National 

Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2012–8483 Filed 4–6–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

RIN 0648–XB134 

North Pacific Fishery Management 

Council; Public Meeting 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of a public meeting. 

SUMMARY: The North Pacific Fishery 

Management Council (Council) Golden 

King Crab Price Formula Committee is 

meeting in Seattle, WA. 

DATES: The meeting will be held April 

26–27, 2012, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at 

the Pacific Seafood Processing 

Association, 1900 W. Emerson Place, 

Suite 205, Seattle, WA. 

Council address: North Pacific 

Fishery Management Council, 605 W. 

4th Ave., Suite 306, Anchorage, AK 

99501–2252. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Mark Fina, Council staff; telephone: 

(907) 271–2809. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Committee is meeting concerning the 

arbitration system that is part of the 

Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands crab 

rationalization program. The Committee 

will give specific attention to the 

development of the price formula for 

golden king crab under the arbitration 

system. Additional information is 

posted on the Council Web site: 

http://www.alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/ 

npfmc/. 

Although non-emergency issues not 

contained in this agenda may come 

before this group for discussion, those 

issues may not be the subject of formal 

action during this meeting. Action will 

be restricted to those issues specifically 

listed in this notice and any issues 

arising after publication of this notice 

that require emergency action under 

section 305(c) of the Magnuson-Stevens 

Fishery Conservation and Management 

Act, provided the public has been 

notified of the Council’s intent to take 

final action to address the emergency. 

Special Accommodations 

The meeting is physically accessible 

to people with disabilities. Requests for 

sign language interpretation or other 

auxiliary aids should be directed to Gail 

Bendixen at (907) 271–2809 at least 7 

working days prior to the meeting date. 

Dated: April 4, 2012. 

William D. Chappell 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2012–8479 Filed 4–6–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

United States Patent and Trademark 

Office 

Patents External Quality Survey 

(formerly Customer Panel Quality 

Survey) 

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 extension 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)). 

DATES: Written comments must be 

submitted on or before June 8, 2012. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by any of the following methods: 

• Email: 

InformationCollection@uspto.gov. 

Include ‘‘0651–0057 Patents External 

Quality Survey 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 the attention of 

Martin Rater, Management Analyst, 

Office of Patent Quality Assurance, 

United States Patent and Trademark 

Office, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 

22313–1450; by telephone at 571–272– 

5966; or by email to 

Martin.Rater@uspto.gov with 

‘‘Paperwork’’ in the subject line. 

Additional information about this 

collection is also available at http:// 

www.reginfo.gov under ‘‘Information 

Collection Review.’’ 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Abstract 

For over the past 10 years, the USPTO 

has used surveys to obtain customer 

feedback regarding the products, 

services, and related service standards 

of the USPTO. The USPTO used the 

data to measure how well the agency is 

meeting established customer service 

standards, to identify any disjoints 

between customer expectations and 

USPTO performance, and to develop 

improvement strategies. Typically, these 

surveys ask customers to express their 

satisfaction with the USPTO’s products 

and services based upon their 

interactions with the agency as a whole 

over a 12-month period. 

In order to obtain further data 

concerning customer ratings of the 

USPTO’s services, service standards, 

and performance, the USPTO developed 

the Patents External Quality Survey. 

This survey narrows the focus of 

customer satisfaction to examination 

quality and uses a longitudinal, rotating 

panel design to assess changes in 

customer perceptions and to identify 

key areas for examiner training and 

opportunities for improvement. The 

USPTO plans to survey patent agents, 

attorneys, and other individuals from 

large domestic corporations (including 

those with 500+ employees), small and 

medium-size businesses, and 

universities and other non-profit 

research organizations. In addition, the 

USPTO also plans to survey 

independent inventors. The USPTO 

does not plan to survey foreign entities. 

The USPTO will draw a random 

sample of these customers from their 

database. Due to the rotating panel 

design, some sample members will be 

surveyed twice in order to measure 

change over a period of time. Each year 

of the survey will include two waves of 

data collection. 

The Patents External Quality Survey 

is a mail survey, although respondents 

can also complete the survey 

electronically on the Web. The content 

of both versions will be identical. A 

survey packet containing the 

questionnaire, a separate cover letter 

prepared by the Commissioner of 

Patents, a postage-paid, pre-addressed 

return envelope, and instructions for 

completing the survey electronically 

will be mailed to all sample members. 

A pre-notification letter, reminder/thank 

you postcards, and telephone calls will 

be used to encourage response from 

sample members. 

This is a voluntary survey and all 

responses will remain confidential. The 


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