Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 30 / Tuesday, February 13, 2024 / Notices 10051 

87 37 CFR 1.42(a). 

88See 37 CFR 3.73(a); see also MPEP 301(I). 

89See Beech Aircraft, 990 F.2d at 1248 (‘‘At the 

heart of any ownership analysis lies the question of 

who first invented the subject matter at issue, 

because the patent right initially vests in the 

inventor who may then, barring any restrictions to 

the contrary, transfer that right to another, and so 

forth.’’). 

90See MPEP 301. 

91See MPEP 301 (subsection II). 

92See MPEP 301 (subsections II and V). 

93See MPEP 213.02 (subsection II), 211.01, 1895, 

2920.05(e). 

94See 37 CFR 1.76; MPEP 1893.01(e). 

statement should be filed on behalf of 

an AI system, even if the AI system 

made contributions to one or more 

claims in a patent application. 

F. Applicant and Ownership 

The word ‘‘applicant,’’ when used in 

37 CFR, refers to the inventor or all joint 

inventors, or to the person applying for 

a patent as provided in 37 CFR 1.43, 

1.45, or 1.46.87 The original applicant is 

presumed to be the owner of the patent 

application unless there is an 

assignment.88 As the ownership of a 

patent or application for a patent 

initially vests in the named inventors 89

and is thereafter transferrable through 

assignments, there is no change in 

practice for AI-assisted inventions with 

regard to the applicant or assignment of 

ownership rights.90 The named inventor 

or joint inventors may seek patent rights 

as the applicant under § 1.45. 

Alternatively, the named inventor or 

joint inventors may assign their 

ownership rights to an assignee (e.g., 

employer, owner or developer of the AI 

system, or other appropriate party), who 

may then file a patent application under 

§ 1.46 or take action in a patent matter 

under § 3.73. 

‘‘Assignment,’’ in general, is the act of 

transferring to another the ownership of 

one’s property, i.e., the interest and 

rights to the property.91 Because an AI 

system cannot be a named inventor, it 

has no rights to assign; therefore, 

assignments from AI systems should not 

be recorded with the USPTO. This 

guidance only applies to recording the 

assignments and other documents 

related to interests in patent 

applications and patents in the USPTO 

and does not apply to contractual or 

licensing agreements between parties 

owning and using AI systems in the 

invention creation process. Applicants 

should keep in mind that the recording 

of assignments and other related 

documents by the USPTO is a 

ministerial act, and assignments and 

other related documents are contracts 

that are governed by the relevant 

jurisdictional law.92

G. Benefit/Priority Claims to Prior-Filed 

Applications 

Applications and patents claiming the 

benefit of, or priority to, a prior 

application filed in the United States or 

a foreign country under 35 U.S.C. 119, 

120, 121, 365, or 386 must name the 

same inventor or have at least one joint 

inventor in common with the prior-filed 

application.93 For all applications and 

patents, including those that cover AIassisted inventions, the prior-filed 

application and the United States 

application or patent claiming the 

benefit of, or priority to, the prior-filed 

application must name the same natural 

person as the inventor, or have at least 

one joint inventor who is a natural 

person in common. Therefore, a priority 

claim to a foreign application that 

names an AI system as the sole inventor 

will not be accepted. This policy also 

applies to U.S. patent applications and 

patents claiming priority to foreign 

applications that allow the naming of 

non-natural persons as joint inventors. 

For a U.S. application claiming priority 

to a foreign application that names both 

a natural person(s) and a non-natural 

person as a joint inventor, the 

application data sheet accompanying 

the application filed in the United 

States must list as inventor(s) only the 

natural person(s) who significantly 

contributed to the invention, including 

one in common with the foreign 

application. Similarly, for an 

application entering the national stage 

under 35 U.S.C. 371 where the 

international application indicates a 

joint inventor that is not a natural 

person, applicants can comply with the 

U.S. inventorship requirement by 

naming the natural person(s) who 

significantly contributed to the 

invention in an application data sheet 

accompanying the initial submission 

under 35 U.S.C. 371.94

Katherine Kelly Vidal, 

Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual 

Property and Director of the United States 

Patent and Trademark Office. 

[FR Doc. 2024–02623 Filed 2–12–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–16–P 

COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING 

COMMISSION 

Sunshine Act Meetings 

TIME AND DATE: 12:30 p.m. EST, 

Thursday, February 15, 2024. 

PLACE: CFTC Headquarters Conference 

Center, Three Lafayette Centre, 1155 

21st Street NW, Washington, DC. 

STATUS: Open. 

MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED: The 

Commodity Futures Trading 

Commission (‘‘Commission’’ or 

‘‘CFTC’’) will hold this meeting to 

consider the following matters: 

• Proposed Rule: Requirements for 

Designated Contract Markets and Swap 

Execution Facilities Regarding 

Governance and the Mitigation of 

Conflicts of Interest Impacting Market 

Regulation Functions; 

• Proposed Rule: Foreign Boards of 

Trade; 

• Proposed Rule: Regulations to 

Address Margin Adequacy and to 

Account for the Treatment of Separate 

Accounts by Futures Commission 

Merchants; 

• Application of Taiwan Futures 

Exchange Corporation for an Exemption 

from Registration as a DCO; and 

• ICE NGX Petition for Amended 

DCO Registration Order. 

The agenda for this meeting will be 

available to the public and posted on 

the Commission’s website at https://

www.cftc.gov. Members of the public are 

free to attend the meeting in person, or 

have the option to listen by phone or 

view a live stream. Instructions for 

listening to the meeting by phone and 

connecting to the live video stream will 

be posted on the Commission’s website. 

In the event that the time, date, or 

place of this meeting changes, an 

announcement of the change, along with 

the new time, date, or place of the 

meeting, will be posted on the 

Commission’s website. 

CONTACT PERSON FOR MORE INFORMATION: 

Christopher Kirkpatrick, Secretary of the 

Commission, 202–418–5964. 

(Authority: 5 U.S.C. 552b) 

Dated: February 8, 2024. 

Christopher Kirkpatrick, 

Secretary of the Commission. 

[FR Doc. 2024–02997 Filed 2–9–24; 11:15 am] 

BILLING CODE 6351–01–P 

CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY 

COMMISSION 

[Docket No. CPSC–2010–0046] 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities; Extension and Revision of 

Collection; Consumer Focus Groups 

and Other Qualitative Studies 

AGENCY: Consumer Product Safety 

Commission. 

ACTION: Notice of information collection; 

request for comment. 


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10052 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 30 / Tuesday, February 13, 2024 / Notices 

1Total hourly compensation for all civilian 

workers is estimated by the U.S. Bureau of Labor 

Statistics to be $43.26: Employer Costs for 

Employee Compensation, June 2023, Table 1, 

(https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/ecec_

09122023.pdf). 

SUMMARY: As required by the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995, the Consumer 

Product Safety Commission (CPSC or 

Commission) announces that the 

Commission has submitted to the Office 

of Management and Budget (OMB) a 

request for extension of approval of a 

collection of information from persons 

who may voluntarily participate in 

consumer focus groups. CPSC has also 

requested a revision of that collection. 

The Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) previously approved the 

collection of information under Control 

Number 3041–0136. OMB’s most recent 

extension of approval will expire on 

March 31, 2024. On November 28, 2023, 

CPSC published a notice in the Federal 

Register to announce the agency’s 

intention to seek extension of approval 

of the collection of information. The 

Commission received no comments. 

Therefore, by publication of this notice, 

the Commission announces that CPSC 

has submitted to the OMB a request for 

extension of approval of that collection 

of information. 

DATES: Submit comments on the 

collection of information by March 14, 

2024. 

ADDRESSES: Submit comments about 

this request by email: OIRA_

submission@omb.eop.gov or fax: 202– 

395–6881. Comments by mail should be 

sent to the Office of Information and 

Regulatory Affairs, Attn: OMB Desk 

Officer for the CPSC, Office of 

Management and Budget, Room 10235, 

725 17th Street NW, Washington, DC 

20503. In addition, written comments 

that are sent to OMB also should be 

submitted electronically at http://

www.regulations.gov, under Docket No. 

CPSC–2010–0046. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Cynthia Gillham, Consumer Product 

Safety Commission, 4330 East West 

Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814; (301) 

504–7791, or by email to: pra@cpsc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: CPSC 

seeks to extend the following currently 

approved collection of information, and 

to revise it to include additional forms 

of qualitative studies: 

Title: Focus Groups and Other 

Qualitative Studies. 

OMB Number: 3041–0136. 

Type of Review: Extension and 

revision of collection. 

Frequency of Response: On occasion. 

Affected Public: Consumers. 

Estimated Number of Respondents: 

CPSC estimates that this collection will 

involve 2,620 participants, including 

prospective focus group participants 

who are screened but ultimately not 

selected for participation. 

Estimated Time per Response: We 

estimate that the average response time 

for each participant will be 1.1 hours. 

Total Estimated Annual Burden: 

Based on CPSC’s estimates that 2,620 

participants will each spend an average 

of 1.1 hours responding to the 

collection, CPSC estimates that the total 

annual burden of this collection is 2,882 

hours. The annualized cost to 

respondents for the information 

collection is $124,675.32 (2,882 hours × 

$43.26/hour), as estimated from total 

compensation data available from the 

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.1

General Description of Collection: 

Section 5(a) of the Consumer Product 

Safety Act (CPSA), 15 U.S.C. 2054(a), 

authorizes the Commission to conduct 

studies and investigations relating to the 

causes and prevention of deaths, 

accidents, injuries, illnesses, other 

health impairments, and economic 

losses associated with consumer 

products. Section 5(b) of the CPSA, 15 

U.S.C. 2054(b), further provides that the 

Commission may conduct research, 

studies, and investigations on the safety 

of consumer products. The Commission 

may also test consumer products and 

develop product safety test methods and 

testing devices. 

To help identify and evaluate 

product-related incidents, Commission 

staff invites and obtains direct feedback 

from consumers on issues related to 

product safety, such as recall 

effectiveness, product use, and 

perceptions regarding safety issues. The 

information that CPSC collects from 

future focus groups—including usability 

studies and ethnographic studies for 

consumer products, which are being 

added to this revised collection—will 

help inform the Commission’s 

identification and evaluation of 

consumer products and product uses by 

providing insight and information into 

consumer perceptions and usage 

patterns. In some cases, one-on-one 

interviews may be conducted as a more 

in-depth extension of a focus group, or 

in place of a traditional focus group or 

study. This information may also assist 

the Commission in its efforts to support 

voluntary standards activities and help 

CPSC identify emerging consumer safety 

issues requiring additional research. In 

addition, based on the information 

obtained, CPSC may be able to improve 

the readability and comprehension of 

safety information provided to the 

public. 

Alberta E. Mills, 

Secretary, Consumer Product Safety 

Commission. 

[FR Doc. 2024–02901 Filed 2–12–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6355–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 

Department of the Army 

[Docket ID: USA–2024–HQ–0002] 

Proposed Collection; Comment 

Request 

AGENCY: Department of the Army, 

Department of Defense (DoD). 

ACTION: 60-Day information collection 

notice. 

SUMMARY: In compliance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the 

Army Research Institute (ARI) for the 

Behavioral and Social Sciences 

announces a proposed public 

information collection and seeks public 

comment on the provisions thereof. 

Comments are invited on: 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; the accuracy of the 

agency’s estimate of the burden of the 

proposed information collection; ways 

to enhance the quality, utility, and 

clarity of the information to be 

collected; and ways to minimize the 

burden of the information collection on 

respondents, including through the use 

of automated collection techniques or 

other forms of information technology. 

DATES: Consideration will be given to all 

comments received by April 15, 2024. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, 

identified by docket number and title, 

by any of the following methods: 

Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

Mail: Department of Defense, Office of 

the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense 

for Privacy, Civil Liberties, and 

Transparency, Regulatory Directorate, 

4800 Mark Center Drive, Mailbox #24, 

Suite 08D09, Alexandria, VA 22350– 

1700. 

Instructions: All submissions received 

must include the agency name, docket 

number and title for this Federal 

Register document. The general policy 

for comments and other submissions 

from members of the public is to make 

these submissions available for public 

viewing on the internet at http://

www.regulations.gov as they are 


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