Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 100 / Tuesday, May 24, 2022 / Notices 31533 

Dated: May 18, 2022. 

Tracey L. Thompson, 

Acting Deputy Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2022–11071 Filed 5–23–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

Patent and Trademark Office 

[Docket No. PTO–T–2022–0017] 

USPTO To Accelerate Transition To 

Issuance of Electronic Trademark 

Registration Certificates; Issuing Next 

Certificates on May 24, 2022 

AGENCY: United States Patent and 

Trademark Office, Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The United States Patent and 

Trademark Office (USPTO) is 

accelerating the transition date for 

issuance of electronic trademark 

registration certificates to May 24, 2022. 

On and after that date, the electronic 

registration certificate will be the 

official registration certificate. Because 

of a nationwide shortage of the 

specialized paper, and a recent vendor 

disruption, the USPTO will not issue 

registration certificates between May 10 

and May 23, 2022, while the USPTO 

transitions to this new program. The 

new program will make the issuance of 

registration certificates more resilient. 

After the USPTO begins issuing 

electronic registration certificates, 

trademark owners will have the option 

to order paper ‘‘presentation’’ copies. 

Registrants will also continue to be able 

to order certified copies of their 

trademark registrations. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Catherine Cain, Office of the Deputy 

Commissioner for Trademark 

Examination Policy, USPTO, at 571– 

272–8946 or TMFRNotices@uspto.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

USPTO published a notice in the 

Federal Register on May 2, 2022 (87 FR 

25623), notifying the public that it 

would begin issuing trademark 

registration certificates electronically 

via the Trademark Status and Document 

Retrieval (TSDR) system on June 7, 

2022. The USPTO is accelerating the 

transition date for issuance of electronic 

trademark registration certificates to 

May 24, 2022. The new date accelerates 

the benefits of the electronic certificates, 

quickly adjusts for a paper vendor 

disruption that recently presented, and 

improves the resiliency of the USPTO to 

issue trademark registrations going 

forward. 

The USPTO will not issue registration 

certificates between May 10 and May 

23, 2022, while it transitions to the new, 

electronic process. In the course of 

addressing the issue caused by the 

paper shortage, the status of some 

applications was inadvertently changed 

to registered on May 10. The USPTO 

corrected the status of those 

applications to pending on May 11. 

As stated in the May 2, 2022 notice, 

upon implementation of electronic 

trademark registration certificates, all 

registration certificates issued by the 

USPTO will be made under the 

electronic signature of the Director and 

with a digital seal, which will 

authenticate the registration. The 

USPTO will upload the official 

registration certificate to the TSDR 

database, and an electronic notice will 

be emailed to the trademark owner and 

all email addresses of record with a link 

to access the certificate upon issuance. 

Trademark owners will be able to use 

the emailed link to view, download, and 

print a complete copy of the registration 

certificate at no charge at any time. 

Trademark owners who file an initial 

application on or after the 

implementation date will be able to 

order presentation copies for $25 per 

copy through the Trademark Electronic 

Application System (TEAS). Trademark 

owners who filed an initial application 

before the implementation date will be 

able to order one presentation copy for 

free. Trademark owners will continue to 

be able to order certified copies of their 

trademark registration for a fee. The 

certified copy certifies the status and 

title of the registration and includes the 

signature of an authorized certifying 

officer. 

Katherine K. Vidal, 

Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual 

Property and Director of the United States 

Patent and Trademark Office. 

[FR Doc. 2022–11196 Filed 5–23–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–16–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

Patent and Trademark Office 

[OMB Control No. 0651–NEW; Docket No. 

PTO–C–2022–0018] 

Information Collection; Improving 

Customer Experience (OMB Circular 

A–11, Section 280 Implementation) 

AGENCY: Department of Commerce, 

United States Patent and Trademark 

Office. 

ACTION: Notice; request for comment. 

SUMMARY: The United States Patent and 

Trademark Office (USPTO or Agency) as 

part of its continuing effort to reduce 

paperwork and respondent burden, is 

announcing an opportunity for public 

comment on a new proposed collection 

of information by the Agency. Under the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

(PRA), Federal agencies are required to 

publish notice in the Federal Register 

concerning each proposed collection of 

information, and to allow 60 days for 

public comment in response to the 

notice. This notice solicits comments on 

new collection proposed by the Agency. 

DATES: Submit comments on or before: 

July 25, 2022. 

ADDRESSES: Submit comments 

identified by Information Collection 

0651–NEW, Improving Customer 

Experience (OMB Circular A–11, 

Section 280 Implementation), by any of 

the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking portal: 

https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

Comments submitted electronically, 

including attachments to https:// 

www.regulations.gov, will be posted to 

the docket unchanged. 

Mail: Kimberly Hardy, Office of the 

Chief Administrative Officer, United 

States Patent and Trademark Office, 

P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313– 

1450. 0651–NEW, Improving Customer 

Experience (OMB Circular A–11, 

Section 280 Implementation). 

Instructions: Please submit comments 

only and cite Information Collection 

0651–NEW, Improving Customer 

Experience (OMB Circular A–11, 

Section 280 Implementation), in all 

correspondence related to this 

collection. To confirm receipt of your 

comment(s), please check 

regulations.gov, approximately 2–3 

business days after submission to verify 

posting (except allow 30 days for 

posting of comments submitted by 

mail). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Requests for additional information 

should be directed to Charles Thomas, 

Customer Experience Administrator for 

Trademarks, and/or Toni Krasnic, 

Customer Experience Administrator for 

Patents, via email to Charles.Thomas1@

uspto.gov and/or Toni.Krasnic@

uspto.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

A. Purpose 

Under the PRA, (44 U.S.C. 3501– 

3520) Federal agencies must obtain 

approval from the Office of Management 

and Budget (OMB) for each collection of 

information they conduct or sponsor. 

‘‘Collection of information’’ is defined 

in 44 U.S.C. 3502(3) and 5 CFR 

1320.3(c) and includes Agency requests 


jspears on DSK121TN23PROD with NOTICES1
31534 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 100 / Tuesday, May 24, 2022 / Notices 

or requirements that members of the 

public submit reports, keep records, or 

provide information to a third party. 

Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA 

requires Federal agencies to provide a 

60-day notice in the Federal Register 

concerning each proposed collection of 

information, including each proposed 

extension of an existing collection of 

information, before submitting the 

collection to OMB for approval. To 

comply with this requirement, USPTO 

is publishing notice of the proposed 

collection of information set forth in 

this document. 

Whether seeking a loan, Social 

Security benefits, veteran’s benefits, or 

other services provided by the Federal 

Government, individuals and businesses 

expect Government customer services to 

be efficient and intuitive, just like 

services from leading private-sector 

organizations. Yet the 2016 American 

Consumer Satisfaction Index and the 

2017 Forrester Federal Customer 

Experience Index show that, on average, 

Government services lag nine 

percentage points behind the private 

sector. 

A modern, streamlined, and 

responsive customer experience means: 

Raising governmentwide customer 

experience to the average of the private 

sector service industry; developing 

indicators for high-impact Federal 

programs to monitor progress towards 

excellent customer experience and 

mature digital services; and providing 

the structure (including increasing 

transparency) and resources to ensure 

customer experience is a focal point for 

agency leadership. To support this, 

OMB Circular A–11 Section 280 

established governmentwide standards 

for mature customer experience 

organizations in government and 

measurement. To enable Federal 

programs to deliver the experience 

taxpayers deserve, they must undertake 

three general categories of activities: 

Conduct ongoing customer research, 

gather and share customer feedback, and 

test services and digital products. 

These data collection efforts may be 

either qualitative or quantitative in 

nature or may consist of mixed 

methods. Additionally, data may be 

collected via a variety of means, 

including but not limited to electronic 

or social media, direct or indirect 

observation (i.e., in person, video, and 

audio collections), interviews, 

questionnaires, surveys, and focus 

groups. USPTO will limit its inquiries to 

data collections that solicit strictly 

voluntary opinions or responses. Steps 

will be taken to ensure anonymity of 

respondents in each activity covered by 

this request. 

The results of the data collected will 

be used to improve the delivery of 

Federal services and programs. It will 

include the creation of personas, 

customer journey maps, and reports and 

summaries of customer feedback data 

and user insights. It will also provide 

governmentwide data on customer 

experience that can be displayed on 

performance.gov to help build 

transparency and accountability of 

Federal programs to the customers they 

serve. 

Method of Collection 

USPTO will collect this information 

by electronic means when possible, as 

well as by mail, fax, telephone, 

technical discussions, and in-person 

interviews. USPTO may also utilize 

observational techniques to collect this 

information. 

Data 

Form Number(s): None. 

Type of Review: New. 

B. Annual Reporting Burden 

Affected Public: Collections will be 

targeted to the solicitation of opinions 

from respondents who have experience 

with the program or may have 

experience with the program in the near 

future. For the purposes of this request, 

‘‘customers’’ are individuals, 

businesses, and organizations that 

interact with a Federal Government 

agency or program, either directly or via 

a Federal contractor. This could include 

individuals or households; businesses 

or other for-profit organizations; not-forprofit institutions; State, local or tribal 

governments; Federal government; and 

universities. 

Estimated Number of Respondents: 

2,001,550. 

Estimated Time per Response: Varied, 

dependent upon the data collection 

method used. The possible response 

time to complete a questionnaire or 

survey may be 3 minutes or up to 1.5 

hours to participate in an interview. 

Estimated Total Annual Burden 

Hours: 101,125. 

Estimated Total Annual Cost to 

Public: $2,737,454. 

C. Public Comments 

USPTO invites comments on: (a) 

Whether the proposed collection of 

information is necessary for the proper 

performance of the functions of the 

Agency, including whether the 

information will 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, including through the use 

of automated collection techniques or 

other forms of information technology. 

Comments submitted in response to this 

notice will be summarized and/or 

included in the request for OMB 

approval of this information collection; 

they also will become a matter of public 

record. 

Kimberly Hardy, 

Information Collections Officer, Office of the 

Chief Administrative Officer, United States 

Patent and Trademark Office. 

[FR Doc. 2022–11149 Filed 5–23–22; 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; Patents External Quality 

Survey 

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 March 15, 2022 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: Patents External Quality Survey. 

OMB Control Number: 0651–0057. 

Needs and Uses: The USPTO’s 

Patents External Quality Survey is an 

instrument designed to measure 

opinions about the services that USPTO 

provides its patent application 

customers. The results from this 

voluntary survey will assist the USPTO 

in guiding improvements and 

enhancements in the future. The USPTO 

conducts the Patents External Quality 

Survey as part of its quality 

improvement efforts under E.O. 14058, 

Transforming Federal Customer 

Experience and Service Delivery to 


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