Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 207 / Friday, October 25, 2024 / Notices 85171 

1https://www.congress.gov/116/plaws/publ316/ 

PLAW-116publ316.pdf. 

Dated: October 21, 2024. 

Rey Israel Marquez, 

Acting Deputy Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2024–24838 Filed 10–24–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

Patent and Trademark Office 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities; Submission to the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) for 

Review and Approval; Comment 

Request; Patents for Humanity 

Program and Trademarks for Humanity 

Program 

AGENCY: United States Patent and 

Trademark Office, Department of 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of information collection; 

request for comment. 

SUMMARY: The United States Patent and 

Trademark Office (USPTO), as required 

by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 

1995, invites comments on the 

extension and revision of an existing 

information collection: 0651–0066 

(Patents for Humanity Program and 

Trademarks for Humanity Program). The 

purpose of this notice is to allow 60 

days for public comment preceding 

submission of the information collection 

to OMB. 

DATES: To ensure consideration, 

comments regarding this information 

collection must be received on or before 

December 24, 2024. 

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are 

invited to submit written comments by 

any of the following methods. Do not 

submit Confidential Business 

Information or otherwise sensitive or 

protected information. 

• Email: InformationCollection@

uspto.gov. Include ‘‘0651–0066 

comment’’ in the subject line of the 

message. 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. 

• Mail: Justin Isaac, Office of the 

Chief Administrative Officer, United 

States Patent and Trademark Office, 

P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313– 

1450. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Request for additional information 

should be directed to Soma Saha, Patent 

Attorney, Office of Policy and 

International Affairs, United States 

Patent and Trademark Office, P.O. Box 

1450, Alexandria, VA 22313–1450; by 

telephone at 571–272–9300; or by email 

at patentsforhumanity@uspto.gov or 

trademarksforhumanity@uspto.gov with 

‘‘0651–0066 comment’’ in the subject 

line. Additional information about this 

information collection is also available 

at http://www.reginfo.gov under 

‘‘Information Collection Review.’’ 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Abstract 

Since 2012, the United States Patent 

and Trademark Office (USPTO) has 

conducted the Patents for Humanity 

Program, a biannual award program to 

incentivize the distribution of patented 

technologies or products for the purpose 

of addressing humanitarian needs. The 

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 non-exclusive licenses. The USPTO 

collects information from applicants 

that describe what actions they have 

taken with their patented technology to 

address the welfare of impoverished 

populations, or how they furthered 

research by others on technologies for 

humanitarian purposes. There are 

numerous categories of awards 

including: Medicine, Nutrition, 

Sanitation, Household Energy, and 

Living Standards. Sometimes the 

program includes additional categories 

specific for that year, for example, green 

energy. 

The Patents for Humanity program 

provides winners with recognition and 

an acceleration certificate for one future 

patent matter. The applications that are 

chosen for an award will receive a 

certificate redeemable to accelerate 

select matters before the USPTO. The 

certificates can be redeemed to 

accelerate one of the following matters: 

an ex parte reexamination proceeding, 

including one appeal to the Patent Trial 

and Appeal Board (PTAB) from that 

proceeding; a patent application, 

including one appeal to the PTAB from 

that application; or an appeal to the 

PTAB 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. Finally, due to the January 2021 

passage of the Patents for Humanity 

Program Improvement Act, winners of 

the Patents for Humanity program are 

now able to transfer their certificates to 

third parties, including by sale.1

In 2023, the USPTO added the 

Trademarks for Humanity Program to 

promote and incentivize brand owners 

who offer products and services that 

help address humanitarian issues 

utilizing a federally registered 

trademark. Applicants are required to 

describe how their mark and their goods 

or services satisfy the program criteria to 

address humanitarian issues. Like the 

Patents for Humanity Program, this 

trademark-focused program operates 

biannually and can have a variety of 

topics depending upon the year. 

Trademarks for Humanity awards are 

focused on recognition and do not 

confer transfer of awards certificates like 

the Patents for Humanity Program. 

Applications for both programs must 

provide non-public contact information 

in order for the USPTO to notify them 

about their award status. Applicants 

may opt to provide contact information 

for the public to reach them with any 

inquiries. Applications must be 

submitted via email and will be posted 

on the USPTO website. A panel of 

independent judges evaluate the 

applications and send the top-scoring 

ones to reviewers from participating 

federal agencies to recommend award 

recipients. Awards are public, and 

recipients receive recognition for their 

humanitarian efforts from the USPTO 

and executive branch leadership. 

Winners of both the Patents for 

Humanity Program and the Trademarks 

for Humanity Program are invited to 

participate in an awards ceremony. 

This information collection covers the 

two application forms for the Patents for 

Humanity Program and the single 

application form for the Trademarks for 

Humanity Program. This information 

collection also covers the information 

gathered in Patents for Humanity 

petitions to extend an acceleration 

certificate redemption beyond 12 

months, as well as the transfer of awards 

certificates. To account for the recent 

addition of the Trademarks for 

Humanity Program, the name of this 

information collection has been changed 

from ‘‘Patents for Humanity Program’’ to 

‘‘Patents for Humanity Program and 

Trademarks for Humanity Program.’’ 

II. Method of Collection 

Items in this information collection 

must be submitted electronically. 

III. Data 

OMB Control Number: 0651–0066. 

Forms: (PFH—Patents for Humanity, 

TFH—Trademarks for Humanity) 

• PTO/PFH/001 (Humanitarian Use 

Application) 

• PTO/PFH/002 (Humanitarian 

Research Use Application) 

• PTO/PFH/003 (Petition to Extend the 

Redemption Period of a Patents for 

Humanity Program Acceleration 

Certificate) 

• PTO/TFH/001 (Trademarks for 

Humanity Application) 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1
85172 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 207 / Friday, October 25, 2024 / Notices 

2 2023 Report of the Economic Survey, published 

by the Committee on Economics of Legal Practice 

of the American Intellectual Property Law 

Association (AIPLA); pg. F–41. The USPTO uses the 

average billing rate for intellectual property work in 

all firms which is $447 per hour (https://

www.aipla.org/home/news-publications/economicsurvey). 

Type of Review: Extension and 

revision of a currently approved 

information collection. 

Affected Public: Private sector. 

Respondent’s Obligation: Required to 

obtain or retain benefits. 

Frequency: Biannually. 

Estimated Number of Annual 

Respondents: 82 respondents. 

Estimated Number of Annual 

Responses: 82 responses. 

Estimated Time per Response: The 

USPTO estimates that the responses in 

this information collection will take the 

public approximately between 30 

minutes (0.50 hours) and 4 hours to 

complete. This includes the time to 

gather the necessary information, create 

the document, and submit the 

completed item to the USPTO. 

Estimated Total Annual Respondent 

Burden Hours: 322 hours. 

Estimated Total Annual Respondent 

Hourly Cost Burden: $143,934. 

TABLE 1—TOTAL BURDEN HOURS AND HOURLY COSTS TO PRIVATE SECTOR RESPONDENTS

Item No. Item 

Estimated 

annual 

respondents 

Responses 

per 

respondent 

Estimated 

annual 

responses 

Estimated time 

for response 

(hours) 

Estimated 

burden 

(hour/year) 

Rate 2

($/hour) 

Estimated 

annual 

respondent 

cost burden 

(a) (b) (a) × (b) = (c) (d) (c) × (d) = (e) (f) (e) × (f) = (g) 

1 ................. Humanitarian Program Application 

(Humanitarian Use).

25 1 25 4 100 $447 $44,700 

2 ................. Humanitarian Program Application 

(Humanitarian Research).

25 1 25 4 100 447 44,700 

3 ................. Petition to Extend the Redemption 

Period of the Humanitarian Award 

Certificate.

1 1 1 1 1 447 447 

4 ................. Transfer of Awards Certificate .......... 1 1 1 0.50 

(30 minutes) 

1 447 447 

5 ................. Trademarks for Humanity Application.30 1 30 4 120 447 53,640 

Totals .. 82 .................... 82 ........................ 322 .................... 143,934 

Estimated Total Annual Respondent 

Non-hourly Cost Burden: $0. There are 

no capital start-up costs, maintenance 

costs, recordkeeping costs, filing fees, or 

postage costs associated with this 

information collection. 

IV. Request for Comments 

The USPTO is soliciting public 

comments to: 

(a) Evaluate whether the collection of 

information is necessary for the proper 

performance of the functions of the 

Agency, including whether the 

information will have practical utility; 

(b) Evaluate the accuracy of the 

Agency’s estimate of the burden of the 

collection of information, including the 

validity of the methodology and 

assumptions used; 

(c) Enhance the quality, utility, and 

clarity of the information to be 

collected; and 

(d) Minimize the burden of the 

collection of information on those who 

are to respond, including through the 

use of appropriate automated, 

electronic, mechanical, or other 

technological collection techniques or 

other forms of information technology, 

e.g., permitting electronic submission of 

responses. 

All comments submitted in response 

to this notice are a matter of public 

record. The USPTO will include or 

summarize each comment in the request 

to OMB to approve this information 

collection. Before including an address, 

phone number, email address, or other 

personally identifiable information (PII) 

in a comment, be aware that the entire 

comment—including PII—may be made 

publicly available at any time. While 

you may ask in your comment to 

withhold PII from public view, the 

USPTO cannot guarantee that it will be 

able to do so. 

Justin Isaac, 

Information Collections Officer, Office of the 

Chief Administrative Officer, United States 

Patent and Trademark Office. 

[FR Doc. 2024–24920 Filed 10–24–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–16–P 

COMMITTEE FOR PURCHASE FROM 

PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR 

SEVERELY DISABLED 

Procurement List; Deletions 

AGENCY: Committee for Purchase From 

People Who Are Blind or Severely 

Disabled. 

ACTION: Deletions from the Procurement 

List. 

SUMMARY: This action deletes product(s) 

and service(s) from the Procurement List 

that were furnished by nonprofit 

agencies employing persons who are 

blind or have other severe disabilities. 

DATES: Date deleted from the 

Procurement List: November 24, 2024. 

ADDRESSES: Committee for Purchase 

From People Who Are Blind or Severely 

Disabled, 355 E Street SW, Suite 325, 

Washington, DC 20024. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Michael R. Jurkowski, Telephone: (703) 

785–6404, or email CMTEFedReg@

AbilityOne.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Deletions 

On 9/13/2024 (89 FR 74928) and 9/ 

20/2024 (89 FR 77109), the Committee 

for Purchase From People Who Are 

Blind or Severely Disabled published 

notice of proposed deletions from the 

Procurement List. This notice is 

published pursuant to 41 U.S.C. 8503 

(a)(2) and 41 CFR 51–2.3. 

After consideration of the relevant 

matter presented, the Committee has 

determined that the product(s) and 

service(s) listed below are no longer 

suitable for procurement by the Federal 

Government under 41 U.S.C. 8501–8506 

and 41 CFR 51–2.4. 

Regulatory Flexibility Act Certification 

I certify that the following action will 

not have a significant impact on a 

substantial number of small entities. 

The major factors considered for this 

certification were: 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1