[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 118 (Friday, June 19, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35318-35320]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-15117]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Practitioner Conduct and Discipline
ACTION: Proposed collection; comment request.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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 comment on the
extension of a 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 August 18, 2015.
ADDRESSES: Written comments may be submitted by any of the following
methods:
Email: [email protected]. Include ``0651-
0017 comment'' in the subject line of the message.
Federal Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
Mail: Marcie Lovett, Records Management Division Director,
Office of the Chief Information Officer, United States Patent and
Trademark Office, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information
should be directed to Dahlia George, Office of Enrollment and
Discipline, United States Patent and Trademark Office, P.O. Box 1450,
Alexandria, VA 22313-1450; by telephone at 571-272-4097; or by email at
[email protected] with ``0651-0017 comment'' in the subject line.
Additional information about this collection is also available at
http://www.reginfo.gov under ``Information Collection Review.''
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Abstract
The Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office
(USPTO) has the authority to establish regulations governing the
conduct and discipline of agents, attorneys, or other persons
representing applicants and other parties before the USPTO (35 U.S.C. 2
and 32-33). The USPTO Rules of Professional Conduct at 37 CFR 11.101-
11.804 describe how agents, attorneys, or other practitioners
representing applicants and other parties before the USPTO should
conduct themselves professionally and outline their responsibilities
for recordkeeping and reporting violations or complaints of misconduct
to the USPTO, while the Investigations and Disciplinary Proceedings
Rules (37 CFR 11.19-11.60) dictate how the USPTO can discipline agents,
attorneys, or other persons representing applicants and other parties
before the USPTO.
The Rules require an attorney or agent to maintain complete records
of all funds, securities, and other properties of clients coming into
his or her possession, and to render appropriate accounts to the client
regarding the funds, securities, and other properties of clients coming
into the practitioner's possession, collectively known as ``client
property.'' These recordkeeping requirements are necessary to maintain
the integrity of client property. Each State Bar requires its attorneys
to perform similar recordkeeping.
The Rules also require an attorney or agent to report knowledge of
certain violations of the Rules to the USPTO. If a complaint is found
to have merit, the USPTO will investigate and possibly prosecute
violations of the Rules and provide the practitioner with the
opportunity to respond to the complaint. The Director of the Office of
Enrollment and Discipline (OED Director) may, after notice and
opportunity for a hearing, suspend,
[[Page 35319]]
exclude, or disqualify any practitioner from further practice before
the USPTO based on non-compliance with the regulations. Practitioners
who have been excluded or suspended from practice before the USPTO,
practitioners transferred to disability inactive status, and
practitioners who have resigned must keep and maintain records of their
steps to comply with the suspension or exclusion order, transfer to
disability inactive status, or resignation, should they seek
reinstatement. These records may serve as the practitioner's proof of
compliance with the order, transfer, resignation, and Rules.
The information collected, i.e., reports of alleged violations of
the Rules, is used by the OED Director to conduct investigations and
prosecute violations, as appropriate. If this information is not
collected, the OED Director would have no knowledge of alleged
violations and would be unable to enforce this provision of the Rules.
II. Method of Collection
Electronically via email; by postal mail, facsimile, or hand
delivery in paper form.
III. Data
OMB Number: 0651-0017.
IC Instruments: The individual instruments in this collection, as
well as their associated forms, are listed in the table below.
Type of Review: Revision of a Previously Existing Information
Collection.
Affected Public: Individuals or households; businesses or other
for-profits; and not-for-profit institutions.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 11,065 responses per year.
Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that it will take
the public between 1 hour and 20 hours to submit a single item in this
collection depending on the instrument used, including the time to
gather the necessary information, prepare the appropriate form or
petition, and submit the completed request to the USPTO. The time per
response, estimated annual responses, and estimated annual hour burden
associated with each instrument in this collection are shown in the
table below.
Estimated Total Annual Respondent Burden Hours: 12,225 hours.
Estimated Total Annual Respondent (Hourly) Cost Burden:
$3,177,523.00. The USPTO expects that agents will complete the
Recordkeeping Maintenance & Disclosure item at an hourly rate of $249
as published in the 2013 AIPLA Report of the Economic Survey and that
practitioners will complete the Recordkeeping Maintenance Under
Suspension or Exclusion from the USPTO item at an hourly rate of $389
as published in the 2013 AIPLA Report of the Economic Survey. The USPTO
further expects that members of the public will complete the Complaint/
Violation Reporting at a blended hourly rate of $284.83. This blended
rate is based on data from both the 2013 AIPLA Report of the Economic
Survey and the 2014 Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) National
Occupation Employment and Wage Estimates, and is comprised of 50
percent by the practitioner hourly rate of $389; 25 percent by the
agent hourly rate of $249; and 25 percent by the hourly rate for
Scientists and Engineers of $46.32. Using these hourly rates, the USPTO
estimates $3,177,523.00 per year for the total hourly costs associated
with respondents.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Information collection Estimated time for Estimated annual Estimated annual
IC No. instrument response (hours) responses burden hours Rate ($/hr)
(a) (b) (a) x (b) = (c) (d)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1...................................... Recordkeeping Maintenance & 1 10,825 10,825 $249.00
Disclosure (includes
advertisements, disclosure
requirements relating to
soliciting professional
employment, notifications by
non-attorney practitioner of
inadvertently sent documents,
and financial books and
records such as trust
accounts, fiduciary accounts,
and operating accounts).
2...................................... Recordkeeping Maintenance 20 40 800 389.00
Regarding Practitioners Under
Suspension or Exclusion from
the USPTO.
3...................................... Complaint/Violation Reporting.. 3 200 600 284.83
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total.............................. ............................... .................. 11,065 12,225
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Estimated Total Annual (Non-hour) Respondent Cost Burden:
$1,083.05. There are no capital start-up, maintenance, or recordkeeping
costs, as well as no filing fees associated with this information
collection. The recordkeeping costs included with the recordkeeping-
related responses are a burden hour/burden cost to respondents and are
not part of the annualized cost burden for this collection. There are,
however, associated postage costs.
Customers may incur postage costs when submitting some of the items
covered by this collection to the USPTO by mail. The USPTO expects that
practitioners will submit affidavits with attachments via postal mail
or hand delivery in association with the Recordkeeping Maintenance
Regarding Practitioners Under Suspension or Exclusion item, and
estimates that 99 percent of those affidavits will be submitted by mail
with the remainder submitted by facsimile or hand delivery. The USPTO
further expects that 25 percent of the Complaint/Violation Reporting
item will be submitted electronically. Of the non-electronic
submissions for this item, 1 percent of the item's total responses will
be submitted by hand delivery or facsimile and the remaining 74 percent
will be submitted by postal mail. These two items are estimated to
produce a total of 187 mailed submissions.
The average first-class USPS postage costs for a one-pound mailed
[[Page 35320]]
submission in a flat-rate envelope and a three-pound mailed submission
in a small flat-rate box are $5.75 and $5.95, respectively. The
Recordkeeping Maintenance Regarding Practitioners Under Suspension or
Exclusion item requires the more expensive of those two postage
options, while the Complaint/Violation Reporting item requires the
cheaper flat-rate envelope. The USPTO calculates that the total postage
costs will be $1,083.05.
Therefore, the USPTO estimates that the total annual non-hour cost
burden for this collection, in the form of postage costs, is $1,083.05.
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, including
the validity of the methodology and assumptions used;
(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, e.g., electronic
submission of responses.
Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized or
included in the request for OMB approval of this information
collection; they will also become a matter of public record.
Dated: June 12, 2015.
Marcie Lovett,
Records Management Division Director, USPTO, Office of the Chief
Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2015-15117 Filed 6-18-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-16-P