[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 206 (Tuesday, October 26, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65611-65612]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-26975]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Patent and Trademark Office


Native American Tribal Insignia Database

ACTION: Proposed collection; comment request.

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SUMMARY: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), as part 
of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, 
invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this 
opportunity to comment on the continuing information collection, as 
required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 (44 
U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)).

DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before December 27, 
2010.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
    <bullet> E-mail: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#0e476068617c636f7a6761604d6162626b6d7a6761604e7b7d7e7a6120696178"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="1c55727a736e717d687573725f737070797f687573725c696f6c6873327b736a">[email protected]</span></a>. Include ``0651-
0048 comment'' in the subject line of the message.
    <bullet> Fax: 571-273-0112, marked to the attention of Susan 
Fawcett.
    <bullet> Mail: Susan K. Fawcett, Records Officer, Office of the 
Chief Information Officer, United States Patent and Trademark Office, 
P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450.
    <bullet> Federal Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information 
should be directed to Sharon Marsh, Deputy Commissioner for Trademark 
Examination Policy, Office of the Commissioner for Trademarks, United 
States Patent and Trademark Office, P.O. Box 1451, Alexandria, VA 
22313-1451, by telephone at 571-272-8900, or by e-mail to 
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#cb98a3aab9a4a5e586aab9b8a38bbeb8bbbfa4e5aca4bd"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="f8ab90998a9796d6b5998a8b90b88d8b888c97d69f978e">[email protected]</span></a>.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Abstract

    The Trademark Law Treaty Implementation Act of 1998 (Pub. L. 105-
330, Sec.  302, 112 Stat. 3071) required the United States Patent and 
Trademark Office (USPTO) to study issues surrounding the protection of 
the official insignia of federally- and State-recognized Native 
American tribes under trademark law. The USPTO conducted the study and 
presented a report to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees on 
November 30, 1999. One of the recommendations made in the report was 
that the USPTO create and maintain an accurate and comprehensive 
database containing the official insignia of all federally- and State-
recognized Native American tribes. In accordance with this 
recommendation, the Senate Committee on Appropriations directed the 
USPTO to create this database.
    The USPTO database of official tribal insignias assists trademark 
attorneys in their examination of applications for trademark 
registration. Additionally, the database provides evidence of what a 
federally- or State-recognized Native American tribe considers to be 
its official insignia. The database serves as a reference for examining 
attorneys when determining the registrability of a mark that may 
falsely suggest a connection to the official insignia of a Native 
American tribe. The database is also available to the public on the 
USPTO Web site.
    Tribes are not required to request that their official insignia be 
included in the database. The entry of an official insignia into the 
database does not confer any rights to the tribe that submitted the 
insignia, and entry is not the legal equivalent of registering the 
insignia as a trademark under 15 U.S.C. 1051 et seq. The inclusion of 
an official tribal insignia in the database does not create any legal 
presumption of validity or priority, does not carry any of the benefits 
of Federal trademark registration, and is not a determination as to 
whether a particular insignia would be refused registration as a 
trademark pursuant to 15 U.S.C. 1051 et seq.
    Requests from federally-recognized tribes to enter an official 
insignia into the database must be submitted in writing and include: 
(1) A depiction of the insignia, including the name of the tribe and 
the address for correspondence; (2) a copy of the tribal resolution 
adopting the insignia in question as the official insignia of the 
tribe; and (3) a statement, signed by an official with authority to 
bind the tribe, confirming that the insignia included with the request 
is identical to the official insignia adopted by the tribal resolution.
    Requests from State-recognized tribes must also be in writing and 
include each of the three items described above that are submitted by 
federally-recognized tribes. Additionally, requests from State-
recognized tribes must include either: (a) A document issued by a State 
official that evidences the State's determination that the entity is a 
Native American tribe; or (b) a citation to a State statute designating 
the entity as a Native American tribe. The USPTO enters insignia that 
have been properly submitted by federally- or State-recognized Native 
American tribes into the database and does not investigate whether the 
insignia is actually the official insignia of the tribe making the 
request.
    This collection includes the information needed by the USPTO to 
enter an official insignia for a federally- or State-recognized Native 
American tribe into a database of such insignia. No forms are 
associated with this collection.

II. Method of Collection

    By mail, facsimile, or hand delivery to the USPTO.

III. Data

    OMB Number: 0651-0048.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Affected Public: Tribal governments.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 8 responses per year.
    Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that a federally- 
or State-recognized Native American tribe will require an average of 30 
minutes (0.5 hours) to complete a request to record an official 
insignia, including time to prepare the appropriate documents and 
submit the completed request to the USPTO.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Burden Hours: 5. hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Cost Burden: $325. The USPTO 
expects that the information in this collection will be prepared by 
both paraprofessionals and administrative staff. The estimated rate of 
$65 per hour used in this submission is an average of the 
paraprofessional rate of $100 per hour and the administrative rate of 
$30 per hour. Using this rate of $65 per hour, the USPTO estimates that 
the respondent cost burden for submitting the information in this 
collection will be $325 per year.

[[Page 65612]]



------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                       Estimated               Estimated
                                       time for    Estimated    annual
                Item                   response     annual      burden
                                       (minutes)   responses     hours
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Request to Record an Official                 30           5           3
 Insignia of a Federally-Recognized
 Tribe..............................
Request to Record an Official                 30           3           2
 Insignia of a State-Recognized
 Tribe..............................
------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..........................  ..........           8           5
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Estimated Total Annual Non-hour Respondent Cost Burden: $8. There 
are no capital start-up, maintenance, or recordkeeping costs associated 
with this information collection. There are also no filing fees for 
submitting a tribal insignia for recording. However, this collection 
does have annual (non-hour) costs in the form of postage costs.
    Customers may incur postage costs when submitting the information 
in this collection to the USPTO by mail. The USPTO estimates that the 
average first-class postage cost for a submission mailed through the 
U.S. Postal Service will be $1.05 and that up to 8 submissions will be 
mailed to the USPTO per year. Therefore, the total non-hour respondent 
cost burden for this collection in the form of postage costs is 
approximately $8 per year.

IV. Request for Comments

    Comments are invited on: (a) 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; (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, e.g., the use of automated 
collection techniques or other forms of information technology.
    Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized or 
included in the request for OMB approval of this information 
collection; they also will become a matter of public record.

    Dated: October 20, 2010.
Susan K. Fawcett,
Records Officer, USPTO, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2010-26975 Filed 10-25-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-16-P


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