[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 230 (Friday, November 29, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71613-71614]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-28528]
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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection;
Extension of Public Comment Period
AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
ACTION: Notice of extension of public comment period.
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SUMMARY: The FTC is soliciting public comments on proposed information
requests to Patent Assertion Entities (``PAEs'') asserting patents in a
variety of sectors, as well as a group of other entities asserting
patents specifically in the wireless communications sector, including
manufacturers and other non-practicing entities and organizations
engaged in licensing. The Commission has now determined to extend the
public comment period until December 16, 2013.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before December 16, 2013.
ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file a comment online or on paper, by
following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write ``PAE Reports: Paperwork
Comment; Project No. P131203'' on your comment, and file your comment
online at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/paestudypra, by
following the instructions on the web-based form. If you prefer to file
your comment on paper, mail or deliver your comment to the following
address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, Room H-113
(Annex J), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20580.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William F. Adkinson, Jr., Attorney
Advisor, Office of Policy Planning, Federal Trade Commission, 600
Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20580; (202) 326-2096;
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On September 27, 2013, the Commission
announced that it would seek public comments on a proposal to gather
information from approximately 25 companies known as Patent Assertion
Entities (``PAEs''), along with 15 other entities asserting patents
specifically in the wireless communications sector. For purposes of
this notice, PAEs are firms with a business model based primarily on
purchasing patents and then attempting to generate revenue by asserting
the intellectual property against persons who are already practicing
the patented technology.\1\ A notice containing the proposed
information requests and seeking public comment was published in the
Federal Register on October 3, 2013.\2\ The Commission intends to use
this information to add to the existing literature and evidence on PAE
activity. These comments will be considered before the FTC submits a
request for Office of Management and Budget review of the compulsory
process orders described in this notice under the Paperwork Reduction
Act. The compulsory process orders will seek information from firms
concerning, among other things, patent acquisition, litigation, and
licensing practices.
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\1\ The Commission distinguishes PAEs from other non-practicing
entities or NPEs that primarily seek to develop and transfer
technology, such as universities, research entities and design
firms. Fed. Trade Comm'n, The Evolving IP Marketplace: Aligning
Patent Notice and Remedies with Competition, 8 n.5 (2011), available
at http://www.ftc.gov/os/2011/03/110307patentreport.pdf.
\2\ See Federal Trade Commission: Agency Information Collection
Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request, 78 FR 61,352 (Oct.
3, 2013), available at http://www.ftc.gov/os/fedreg/2013/10/131003agencyinfofrn.pdf.
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The Commission has now determined to extend the public comment
period until December 16, 2013. The Commission will not consider
requests for further extension. You may file a comment online or on
paper, and the content of the comment should conform to the
requirements detailed in the October 3, 2013 Federal Register Notice.
For the Commission to consider your comment, we must receive it on or
before December 16, 2013. Write ``PAE Reports: Paperwork Comment;
Project No. P131203'' on your comment. Your comment, including your
name and your state, will be placed on the public record of this
proceeding, including, to the extent practicable, on the public
Commission Web site, at http://www.ftc.gov/os/publiccomments.shtm. As a
matter of discretion, the Commission tries to remove individuals' home
contact information from comments before placing them on the Commission
Web site.
Because your comment will be made public, you are solely
responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any
sensitive personal information, like anyone's Social Security number,
date of birth, driver's license number or other state identification
number or foreign country
[[Page 71614]]
equivalent, passport number, financial account number, or credit or
debit card number. You are also solely responsible for making sure that
your comment does not include any sensitive health information, like
medical records or other individually identifiable health information.
In addition, do not include any ``[t]rade secret or any commercial or
financial information which is . . . privileged or confidential,'' as
discussed in Section 6(f) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule
4.10(a)(2), 16 CFR 4.10(a)(2). In particular, do not include
competitively sensitive information such as costs, sales statistics,
inventories, formulas, patterns, devices, manufacturing processes, or
customer names.
If you want the Commission to give your comment confidential
treatment, you must file it in paper form, with a request for
confidential treatment, and you have to follow the procedure explained
in FTC Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).\3\ Your comment will be kept
confidential only if the FTC General Counsel grants your request in
accordance with the law and the public interest.
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\3\ In particular, the written request for confidential
treatment that accompanies the comment must include the factual and
legal basis for the request, and must identify the specific portions
of the comment to be withheld from the public record. See FTC Rule
4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).
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Postal mail addressed to the Commission is subject to delay due to
heightened security screening. As a result, we encourage you to submit
your comments online. To make sure that the Commission considers your
online comment, you must file it at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/paestudypra, by following the instructions on the web-based form.
If this Notice appears at http://www.regulations.gov/#!home, you also
may file a comment through that Web site.
If you file your comment on paper, write ``PAE Reports: Paperwork
Comment; Project No. P131203'' on your comment and on the envelope, and
mail or deliver it to the following address: Federal Trade Commission,
Office of the Secretary, Room H-113 (Annex J), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue
NW., Washington, DC 20580. If possible, submit your paper comment to
the Commission by courier or overnight service.
Visit the Commission Web site at http://www.ftc.gov to read this
Notice and the news release describing it. The FTC Act and other laws
that the Commission administers permit the collection of public
comments to consider and use in this proceeding as appropriate. The
Commission will consider all timely and responsive public comments that
it receives on or before December 16, 2013. You can find more
information, including routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, in
the Commission's privacy policy, at http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.htm.
By direction of the Commission.
Donald S. Clark,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2013-28528 Filed 11-27-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P