[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 15 (Monday, January 25, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3893-3894]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-1276]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Patent and Trademark Office
Legal Processes
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 March 26, 2010.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
E-mail: [email protected]. Include ``0651-0046
comment'' in the subject line of the message.
Fax: 571-273-0112, marked to the attention of Susan K.
Fawcett.
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.
Federal Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information
should be directed to Shirley Hassan, Office of General Law, United
States Patent and Trademark Office, P.O. Box 15667, Arlington, VA
22215; by telephone at 571-272-3000; or by e-mail to
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Abstract
The purpose of this collection is to cover information requirements
related to civil actions and claims involving current and former
employees of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The
rules for these legal processes may be found under 37 CFR Part 104,
which outlines procedures for service of process, demands for employee
testimony and production of documents in legal proceedings, reports of
unauthorized testimony, employee indemnification, and filing claims
against the USPTO under the Federal Tort Claims Act (28 U.S.C. 2672)
and the corresponding Department of Justice regulations (28 CFR Part
14). The public may also petition the USPTO Office of General Counsel
under 37 CFR 104.3 to waive or suspend these rules in extraordinary
cases.
The procedures under 37 CFR Part 104 ensure that service of process
intended for current and former employees of the USPTO is handled
properly. The USPTO will only accept service of process for an employee
acting in an official capacity. This collection is necessary so that
respondents or their representatives can serve a summons or complaint
on the USPTO, demand employee testimony and documents related to a
legal proceeding, or file a claim under the Federal Tort Claims Act.
Respondents
[[Page 3894]]
may also petition the USPTO to waive or suspend these rules for legal
processes. This collection is also necessary so that current and former
USPTO employees may properly forward service and demands to the Office
of General Counsel, report unauthorized testimony, and request
indemnification. The USPTO covers current employees as respondents
under this information collection even though their responses do not
require approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act. In those instances
where both current and former employees may respond to the USPTO, the
agency estimates that the number of respondents will be small.
There are no forms provided by the USPTO for this collection. For
filing claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act, the public may use
Standard Form 95 ``Claim for Damage, Injury, or Death,'' which is
provided by the Department of Justice and approved by the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) under OMB Control Number 1105-0008.
II. Method of Collection
By mail or hand delivery to the USPTO.
III. Data
OMB Number: 0651-0046.
Form Number(s): None.
Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved collection.
Affected Public: Individuals or households; businesses or other
for-profits; not-for-profit institutions; and the Federal Government.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 291 responses per year.
Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that it will take
the public from 5 minutes (0.08 hours) to 1 hour to gather the
necessary information, prepare the appropriate documents, and submit
the information required for this collection.
Estimated Total Annual Respondent Burden Hours: 52 hours per year.
Estimated Total Annual Respondent Cost Burden: $16,652 per year.
The USPTO expects that the information in this collection will be
prepared by attorneys and former employees, except for the requests for
employee indemnification, which generally come from professional and
supervisory staff. Since many of the former employees affected by this
collection are attorneys, the attorney rate will be used for former
employees as well. Using the professional rate of $325 per hour for
attorneys in private firms, the USPTO estimates that the respondent
cost burden for attorneys and former employees submitting the
information in this collection will be $16,575 per year. Using the
estimate of $77 per hour for professional and supervisory staff, the
USPTO expects that the respondent cost burden for submitting requests
for employee indemnification will be $77 per year. Therefore, the
respondent cost burden for this collection will be $16,652 per year.
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Estimated annual Estimated annual
Item Estimated time for response responses burden hours
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Petition to Waive Rules.................... 30 minutes................... 5 3
Service of Process......................... 5 minutes.................... 243 19
Forwarding Service......................... 10 minutes................... 7 1
Employee Testimony and Production of 1 hour....................... 22 22
Documents in Legal Proceedings.
Forwarding Demands......................... 10 minutes................... 7 1
Report of Unauthorized Testimony........... 30 minutes................... 1 1
Report of Possible Indemnification Cases... 30 minutes................... 3 2
Employee Indemnification................... 30 minutes................... 1 1
Tort Claims................................ 1 hour....................... 2 2
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Totals................................. ............................. 291 52
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Estimated Total Annual Non-hour Respondent Cost Burden: $3,122 per
year. There are no capital start-up, maintenance, or recordkeeping
costs associated with this information collection. However, this
collection does have annual (non-hour) costs in the form of filing fees
and postage costs.
This collection has filing fees associated with the petition to
waive or suspend the legal process rules under 37 CFR 104.3. The filing
fee for this petition is $130, and the USPTO estimates that
approximately 5 petitions will be filed per year for a total filing
cost of $650. There are no other filing fees associated with this
information collection.
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 for a mailed submission, other than a
Service of Process, will be 88 cents and that up to 48 of these
submissions will be mailed to the USPTO per year, for a postage cost of
$42. The USPTO estimates that the average postage for a Service of
Process will be $10.00 and that up to 243 of these submissions will be
mailed to the USPTO per year, for a postage cost of $2,430. The total
estimated postage cost for this collection is approximately $2,472 per
year.
The total non-hour respondent cost burden for this collection in
the form of filing fees and postage costs is approximately $3,122 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: January 14, 2010.
Susan K. Fawcett,
Records Officer, USPTO, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2010-1276 Filed 1-22-10; 8:45 am]
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