[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 120 (Thursday, June 23, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37503-37504]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-13284]


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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; Invention Promoters/Promotion Firms Complaints

    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 31, 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: Invention Promoters/Promotion Firms Complaints.
    OMB Control Number: 0651-0044.
    Needs and Uses: Pursuant to the Inventors' Rights Act of 1999, 35 
U.S.C. 297, and implementing regulations at 37 CFR part 4, the United 
States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is required to provide a 
forum for the publication of complaints concerning invention promoters 
and responses from the invention promoters. Upon receipt of a 
complaint, the USPTO will forward it to the inventor promoter for a 
response. The USPTO does not investigate these complaints or 
participate in any legal proceedings against invention promoters or 
promotion firms. Under the Act, USPTO is responsible for making 
complaints and responses available to the public on the USPTO's 
website.
    A complaint submitted to the USPTO must be clearly marked, or 
otherwise identified, as a complaint. The complaint must include: (1) 
The name and address of the complaint; (2) the name and address of the 
invention promoter; (3) the name of the customer; (4) the invention 
promotion services offered or performed by the invention promoter; (5) 
the name of the mass media in which the invention promoter advertised 
providing such services; (6) and example of the relationship between 
the customer and the invention promoter; and (7) a signature of the 
complainant. Identifying information is necessary so that the USPTO can 
both forward the complaint to the invention promoter or promotion firm 
as well as notify the complainant that the complaint has been 
forwarded. Complainants should understand that the complaints will be 
forwarded to the invention promoter for response and that the complaint 
and response will be made available to the public as required by the 
Inventors' Rights Act. If the USPTO does not receive a response from 
the invention promoter, the complaint will be published without a 
response. The USPTO does not accept under this program complaints that 
request confidentiality.
    This information collection contains one form, Complaint Regarding 
Invention Promoter (PTO/2048A), which is used by the public to submit a 
complaint under this program. This form is available for download from 
the USPTO website. Use of this form is voluntary, and the complainant 
may submit his or her complaint without the form via any of the 
approved methods of collection as long as the complainant includes the 
necessary information and the submission is clearly marked as a 
complaint filed under the Inventors' Rights Act. There is no associated 
form for submitting responses to a complaint.
    Form:
    <bullet> PTO/2048A (Complaint Regarding Invention Promoter).
    Type of Review: Extension and revision of a currently approved 
information collection.
    Affected Public: Private sector; individuals or households.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Frequency: On occasion.
    Estimated Number of Annual Respondents: 22 respondents.
    Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 22 responses.
    Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that the responses 
in this information collection will take the public approximately 15 
minutes (0.25 hours) to 30 minutes (0.5 hours) 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: 8 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Non-Hourly Cost Burden: $51.
    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.

[[Page 37504]]

    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 0651-0044.
    Further information can be obtained by:
    <bullet> Email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#4d04232b223f202c392422230e222121282e392422230d383e3d3922632a223b"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="bef7d0d8d1ccd3dfcad7d1d0fdd1d2d2dbddcad7d1d0fecbcdcecad190d9d1c8">[email protected]</span></a>. Include ``0651-
0044 information request'' in the subject line of the message.
    <bullet> 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. 2022-13284 Filed 6-22-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-16-P


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