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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 162 / Wednesday, August 25, 2021 / Notices Email: InformationCollection@
uspto.gov. Include 06510070
comment in the subject line of the message.
Federal Rulemaking Portal: http
www.regulations.gov.
Mail: Kimberly Hardy, Office of the Chief Administrative 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 Parikha Mehta, Legal Advisor, Office of Patent Legal Administration, United States Patent and Trademark Office, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 223131450, by telephone at 5712723248, or by email at Parikha.Mehta@uspto.gov with 06510070 comment in the subject line. Additional information about this information collection is also available at http www.reginfo.gov under Information Collection Review.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Abstract Under section 10b of the LeahySmith America Invents Act Act See Pub. L. 11229, 125 Stat. 283 2011, eligible small entities shall receive a 50
percent fee reduction from the undiscounted fees for filing, searching, examining, issuing, appealing, and maintaining patent applications and patents. The Act further provides that micro entities shall receive a 75 percent fee reduction from the undiscounted fees for filing, searching, examining,
issuing, appealing, and maintaining patent applications and patents.
This information collection covers the submissions made by patent applicants and patentees to excuse small and micro entity fee payment errors, in accordance with the procedures set forth in 37 CFR
1.28c and 1.29k. Specifically, 37 CFR
1.28c provides a procedure by which patent applicants and patentees may be excused for erroneous payments of fees in the small entity amount. 37 CFR
1.29k provides a procedure by which patent applicants and patentees may be excused for erroneous payments of fees in the micro entity amount.
Patent applicants and patentees who change their entity status may need to submit additional payments in order to have their applications associated with the correct category. It is possible for small or micro entity status to be established in good faith, and for a patent applicant or patentee to pay a fee as a small or micro entity in good faith, only to later discover that the entity status was established in error, or to later discover that, through error, the USPTO was not notified of a loss of status entitlement. The USPTO will excuse the error if a deficiency payment and other requirements are submitted in compliance with 37 CFR 1.28c or 1.29k. Thus, this information collection is necessary so that patent applicants and patentees may pay the balance of fees due i.e., fee deficiency payment when a fee was previously paid in error in a micro or small entity amount. The USPTO needs the
information to be able to process and properly record a fee deficiency payment to avoid questions arising later, either for the USPTO or for the applicant or patentee, as to whether the proper fees have been paid in the application or patent.
II. Method of Collection The items in this information collection may be submitted online using the Patent Electronic Systems EFS-Web or Patent Center, or on paper by either mail or hand delivery.
III. Data OMB Control Number: 06510070.
Form Numbers: None.
Type of Review: Extension and revision of a currently approved information collection.
Affected Public: Private Sector;
individuals or households.
Estimated Number of Respondents:
2,000 respondents per year.
Estimated Number of Responses:
3,002 responses per year.
Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that the response time for activities related to Fee Deficiency Submissions will take the public approximately 2 hours to complete. This includes the time to gather the necessary information, create the document, and submit the completed information to the USPTO.
Estimated Total Annual Respondent Burden Hour: 6,004 hours.
Estimated Total Annual Respondent Hourly Cost Burden: $2,401,600.

TABLE 1TOTAL HOURLY BURDEN FOR PRIVATE SECTOR RESPONDENTS
Item No.

Item
Estimated annual respondents
Responses per respondent
Estimated annual responses
Estimated time for response hours
Estimated burden hour/year
Rate 1
$/hour
Estimated annual respondent cost burden
a
b
a b = c
d
c d = e
f
e f = g
1
2

Submissions Under 37 CFR 1.28c
Submissions Under 37 CFR 1.29k

1,455
485

1.5
1.5

2,183
728

2
2

4,366
1,456

$400
400

$1,746,400
582,400

Totals

1,940

2,911

5,822

2,328,800

1 2019

Report of the Economic Survey, published by the Committee on Economics of Legal Practice of the American Intellectual Property Law Association AIPLA;
https www.aipla.org/detail/journal-issue/2019-report-of-the-economic-survey. The USPTO uses the mean rate for attorneys in private firms which is $400 per hour.

TABLE 2TOTAL HOURLY BURDEN FOR INDIVIDUALS OR HOUSEHOLDS RESPONDENTS

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Item No.

Item
Estimated annual respondents
Responses per respondent
Estimated annual responses
Estimated time for response hours
Estimated burden hour/year
Rate 2
$/hour
Estimated annual respondent cost burden
a
b
a b = c
d
c d = e
f
e f = g
1
2

Submissions Under 37 CFR 1.28c
Submissions Under 37 CFR 1.29k

45
15

1.5
1.5

68
23

2
2

136
46

$400
400

$54,400
18,400

Totals

60

91

182

72,800

2 2019

Report of the Economic Survey, published by the Committee on Economics of Legal Practice of the American Intellectual Property Law Association AIPLA;
https www.aipla.org/detail/journal-issue/2019-report-of-the-economic-survey. The USPTO uses the mean rate for attorneys in private firms which is $400 per hour.

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