Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 58 / Friday, March 25, 2022 / Notices 17073 

40658, July 15, 2008) established, 

among other things, a shark research 

fishery to maintain time-series data for 

stock assessments and to meet NMFS’ 

research objectives. The shark research 

fishery gathers important scientific data 

and allows selected commercial 

fishermen the opportunity to earn more 

revenue from selling the sharks caught, 

including sandbar sharks. Only the 

commercial shark fishermen selected to 

participate in the shark research fishery 

are authorized to land/harvest sandbar 

sharks subject to the sandbar quota 

available each year. The 2022 base 

annual sandbar shark quota is 90.7 mt 

dressed weight (dw). The selected shark 

research fishery participants also may 

fish using the research large coastal 

shark (§ 635.27(b)(1)(iii)(B)), small 

coastal shark (§ 635.27(b)(1)(i)(C) and 

(b)(1)(ii)(D)), and pelagic shark quotas 

(§ 635.27(b)(1)(iii)(D)) subject to the 

retention limits at § 635.24. 

On November 19, 2021 (86 FR 64909), 

NMFS published a notice inviting 

qualified commercial shark directed and 

incidental permit holders to submit an 

application to participate in the 2022 

shark research fishery. NMFS received 

seven applications and selected five 

participants. In order to inform selected 

participants of this year’s specific 

permit requirements and to ensure all 

terms and conditions of the permit are 

met, per the requirements of 

§ 635.32(f)(4), NMFS is holding a 

mandatory permit holder meeting via 

conference call and webinar. 

Meeting Information 

The meeting will be held on March 

31, 2022, from 2 to 4 p.m. (EDT). For 

conference call and webinar 

information, please go to https://

www.fisheries.noaa.gov/event/publicmeeting-2022-shark-research-fishery. 

Selected participants are strongly 

encouraged to attend. Selected 

participants who are unable to attend 

will not be allowed to participate in the 

shark research fishery until they are able 

to discuss the terms and conditions of 

their shark research fishery permit with 

NMFS staff. Selected participants are 

encouraged to invite their captain, crew, 

or anyone else who may assist them in 

meeting the terms and conditions of the 

shark research fishery permit to the 

conference call. Other interested parties 

may call in and listen to the discussion. 

Dated: March 22, 2022. 

Ngagne Jafnar Gueye, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2022–06354 Filed 3–24–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

Patent and Trademark Office 

[Docket No.: PTO–P–2021–0037] 

Third Extension of the Modified 

COVID–19 Prioritized Examination Pilot 

Program for Patent Applications 

AGENCY: Patent and Trademark Office, 

Department of Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The United States Patent and 

Trademark Office (USPTO or Office) is 

extending the modified COVID–19 

Prioritized Examination Pilot Program, 

which provides prioritized examination 

of certain patent applications. Requests 

that are compliant with the pilot 

program’s requirements and are filed on 

or before June 30, 2022, will be 

accepted. The USPTO will evaluate 

whether to terminate or further extend 

the program during this extension 

period. 

DATES: The COVID–19 Prioritized 

Examination Pilot Program is extended 

as of March 25, 2022, to run until June 

30, 2022. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Robert A. Clarke, Director, Office of 

Patent Legal Administration (571–272– 

7735; robert.clarke@uspto.gov). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On May 

14, 2020, the USPTO published a notice 

on the implementation of the COVID–19 

Prioritized Examination Pilot Program. 

See COVID–19 Prioritized Examination 

Pilot Program, 85 FR 28932 (May 14, 

2020) (COVID–19 Track One Notice). On 

September 3, 2021, the USPTO 

published a notice extending the 

program to December 31, 2021, and 

modifying it by removing the limit on 

the number of patent applications that 

could receive prioritized examination. 

See Modification of COVID–19 

Prioritized Examination Pilot Program, 

86 FR 49522 (September 3, 2021). On 

December 30, 2021, the USPTO 

published a notice extending the 

program to March 31, 2022. See 

Extension of the Modified COVID–19 

Prioritized Examination Pilot Program, 

86 FR 74406 (December 30, 2021) 

(Second Extension Notice). 

The COVID–19 Track One Notice 

indicated that an applicant may request 

prioritized examination without 

payment of the prioritized examination 

fee and associated processing fee if: (1) 

The patent application’s claim(s) 

covered a product or process related to 

COVID–19, (2) the product or process 

was subject to an applicable Food and 

Drug Administration (FDA) approval for 

COVID–19 use, and (3) the applicant 

met other requirements noted in the 

COVID–19 Track One Notice. As of 

February 7, 2022, 225 patents had 

issued from applications granted 

prioritized status under the pilot 

program. The average total pendency, 

including time consumed by continued 

examination, from filing date to issue 

date for those applications was 298 

days. The shortest pendency from filing 

date to issue date for those applications 

was 75 days. 

The Second Extension Notice 

indicated that the pilot program would 

expire on March 31, 2022. In the current 

notice, the USPTO is further extending 

the pilot program by setting the 

expiration date as June 30, 2022. The 

Office will evaluate whether to 

terminate or further extend the program 

during this third extension period. If the 

USPTO determines that an additional 

extension of the pilot program is 

appropriate, the agency will publish a 

subsequent notice to the public. 

Unless the pilot program is further 

extended by a subsequent notice, 

following the expiration of this 

extension, the pilot program will be 

terminated, and patent applicants 

interested in expediting the prosecution 

of their patent application may instead 

seek to use the Prioritized Examination 

(Track One) Program. Patent 

applications accorded prioritized 

examination under the pilot program 

will not lose that status merely because 

the application is still pending after the 

date the pilot program is terminated but 

will instead retain prioritized 

examination status until that status is 

terminated for one or more reasons, as 

described in the COVID–19 Track One 

Notice. 

The Track One Program permits an 

applicant to have a patent application 

advanced out of turn (accorded special 

status) for examination under 37 CFR 

1.102(e) if the applicant timely files a 

request for prioritized (Track One) 

examination accompanied by the 

appropriate fees and meets the other 

conditions of 37 CFR 1.102(e). See 

Manual of Patent Examining Procedure 

708.02(b)(2). The current fee schedule is 

available at www.uspto.gov/learningand-resources/fees-and-payment/usptofee-schedule. 

The Track One Program does not have 

the restrictions of the COVID–19 

Prioritized Examination Pilot Program 

on the types of inventions for which 

special status may be sought, as the 

Track One Program does not require a 

connection to any particular technology. 

Moreover, under the Track One 

Program, an applicant can avoid delays 

associated with the determination of 

whether a patent application presents a 


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17074 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 58 / Friday, March 25, 2022 / Notices 

claim that covers a product or process 

related to COVID–19 and whether the 

product or process is subject to an 

applicable FDA approval for COVID–19 

use. 

Andrew Hirshfeld, 

Commissioner for Patents, Performing the 

Functions and Duties of the Under Secretary 

of Commerce for Intellectual Property and 

Director of the United States Patent and 

Trademark Office. 

[FR Doc. 2022–06294 Filed 3–24–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–16–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; International Work Sharing 

Program 

The United States Patent and 

Trademark Office (USPTO) will submit 

the following information collection 

request to the Office of Management and 

Budget (OMB) for review and clearance 

in accordance with the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995, on or after the 

date of publication of this notice. The 

USPTO invites comment on this 

information collection renewal, which 

helps the USPTO assess the impact of 

its information collection requirements 

and minimize the public’s reporting 

burden. Public comments were 

previously requested via the Federal 

Register on December 14, 2021 during a 

60-day comment period. This notice 

allows for an additional 30 days for 

public comments. 

Agency: United States Patent and 

Trademark Office, Department of 

Commerce. 

Title: International Work Sharing 

Program. 

OMB Control Number: 0651–0079. 

Needs and Uses: The United States 

Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) 

established a Work Sharing Pilot 

Program in conjunction with the Japan 

Patent Office (JPO) and the Korean 

Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) to 

study how the exchange of search 

results between offices for 

corresponding counterpart applications 

improves patent quality and facilitates 

the examination of patent applications 

in both offices. Under this Work Sharing 

Pilot Program, two Collaborative Search 

Pilot (CSP) programs—USPTO–JPO and 

USPTO–KIPO—have been 

implemented. 

Through their respective CSP(s), each 

office concurrently conducts searches 

on corresponding counterpart 

applications. The exchange of 

information and documents between IP 

offices benefits applicants by promoting 

compact prosecution, reducing 

pendency, and supporting patent 

quality by reducing the likelihood of 

inconsistencies in patentability 

determinations among IP offices when 

considering corresponding counterpart 

applications. The gains in efficiency and 

quality are achieved through a 

collaborative work sharing approach to 

the evaluation of patent claims. As a 

result of this exchange of search reports, 

the examiners in both offices may have 

a more comprehensive set of references 

before them when making an initial 

patentability determination. 

This information collection is 

comprised of four items: The Petition to 

Make Special Under the Expanded 

Collaborative Search Pilot Program; 

Petition for Participation in the CSP 

Program Between the JPO and the 

USPTO; the Petition for Participation in 

the CSP Program Between the KIPO and 

the USPTO; and the CSP Survey. The 

Petitions to Make Special and for 

Participation are used by patent 

applicants to request participation in 

the CSP Program. The CSP Survey is 

used to collect feedback on the 

program’s value, monitor usage of the 

program, and to measure the benefits 

the program provides to participants. 

Forms: 

• PTO/437 (Petition to Make Special 

Under the Expanded Collaborative 

Search Pilot Program) 

• PTO/437–JP (Petition for Participation 

in the Collaborative Search Pilot 

(CSP) Program Between the Japan 

Patent Office (JPO) and the USPTO) 

• PTO/437–KR (Petition for 

Participation in the Collaborative 

Search Pilot (CSP) Program Between 

the Korean Intellectual Property 

Office (KIPO) and the USPTO) 

• PTO/461 (Collaborative Search Pilot 

Program Survey) 

Type of Review: Extension and 

revision of a currently approved 

information collection. 

Affected Public: Private sector; 

individuals or households. 

Respondent’s Obligation: Required to 

obtain or retain benefits. 

Frequency: On occasion. 

Estimated Number of Annual 

Respondents: 96 respondents. 

Estimated Number of Annual 

Responses: 190 responses. 

Estimated Time per Response: The 

USPTO estimates that the responses in 

this information collection will take the 

public approximately between 5 

minutes (0.08 hours) and 3 hours (240 

minutes) to complete. This includes the 

time to gather the necessary 

information, create the document, and 

submit the completed request to the 

USPTO. 

Estimated Total Annual Respondent 

Burden Hours: 445 hours. 

Estimated Total Annual Respondent 

Non-Hourly Cost Burden: $0. 

This information collection request 

may be viewed at www.reginfo.gov. 

Follow the instructions to view 

Department of Commerce, USPTO 

information collections currently under 

review by OMB. 

Written comments and 

recommendations for this information 

collection should be submitted within 

30 days of the publication of this notice 

on the following website 

www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. 

Find this particular information 

collection by selecting ‘‘Currently under 

30-day Review—Open for Public 

Comments’’ or by using the search 

function and entering either the title of 

the information collection or the OMB 

Control Number 0651–0079. 

Further information can be obtained 

by: 

• Email: InformationCollection@

uspto.gov. Include ‘‘0651–0079 

information request’’ in the subject line 

of the message. 

• Mail: Kimberly Hardy, Office of the 

Chief Administrative Officer, United 

States Patent and Trademark Office, 

P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313– 

1450. 

Kimberly Hardy, 

Information Collections Officer, Office of the 

Chief Administrative Officer, United States 

Patent and Trademark Office. 

[FR Doc. 2022–06321 Filed 3–24–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–16–P 

COMMITTEE FOR PURCHASE FROM 

PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR 

SEVERELY DISABLED 

Procurement List; Additions 

AGENCY: Committee for Purchase From 

People Who Are Blind or Severely 

Disabled. 

ACTION: Additions to the procurement 

list. 

SUMMARY: This action adds product(s) 

and service(s) to the Procurement List 

that will be furnished by nonprofit 

agencies employing persons who are 

blind or have other severe disabilities. 

DATES: Date added to and deleted from 

the Procurement List: April 24, 2022 

ADDRESSES: Committee for Purchase 

From People Who Are Blind or Severely 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1