This information collection includes the information necessary to submit a request to grant or revoke power of attorney for an application, patent, or reexamination proceeding, and for a registered practitioner to withdraw as attorney or agent of record. This also includes the information necessary to change the correspondence address for an application, patent, or reexamination proceeding, to request a Customer Number and manage the correspondence address and list of practitioners associated with a Customer Number, and to designate or change the correspondence address or fee address for one or more patents or applications by using a Customer Number.
Under 35 U.S.C. 2 and 37 CFR 1.31-1.32, power of attorney may be granted to one or more joint inventors or a person who is registered to practice before the USPTO to act in an application or a patent. In particular, for an application filed before September 16, 2012, or for a patent which issued from an application filed before September 16, 2012, power of attorney may be granted by the applicant for patent (as set forth in 37 CFR 1.41(b) (pre-AIA)) or the assignee of the entire interest of the applicant. For an application filed on or after September 16, 2012, or for a patent which issued from an application filed on or after September 16, 2012, power of attorney may be granted by the applicant for patent (as set forth in 37 CFR 1.42) or the patent owner. The USPTO provides two different versions of the forms for establishing power of attorney based upon whether the application filing date is before or after September 16, 2012, to thereby reduce applicants' burden in having to determine the appropriate power of attorney requirements for a given application.
The USPTO's Customer Number practice permits applicants, patent owners, assignees, and practitioners of record, or the representatives of record for a number of applications or patents, to change the correspondence address of a patent application or patent with one change request instead of filing separate requests for each patent or application. Start Printed Page 50087Any changes to the address or practitioner information associated with a Customer Number will be applied to all patents and applications associated with said Customer Number.
The Customer Number practice is optional, in that changes of correspondence address or power of attorney may be filed separately for each patent or application without using a Customer Number. However, a Customer Number associated with the correspondence address for a patent application is required in order to access private information about the application using the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system, which is available through the USPTO website. The use of a Customer Number is also required in order to grant power of attorney to more than ten practitioners or to establish a separate âfee addressâ for maintenance fee purposes that is different from the correspondence address for a patent or application.
37 CFR 1.36 provides for the revocation of a power of attorney at any stage in the proceedings of a case.
37 CFR 1.36 also provides a path by which a registered patent attorney or patent agent who has been given a power of attorney may withdraw as attorney or agent of record.
Change in Hourly Burden due to Program Change Due to Agency Discretion
The burden estimates have increased by 97,463 due to changing the estimated time for six items in the information collection. The switch from 3 minutes to 30 minutes for these items, suggested by public comments, results in an eightfold increase for a total of 111,104 annual burden hours.
Change in Annual (Non-hour) Costs due to Adjustment in Agency Estimate
For this renewal, the USPTO estimates that the total annual (non-hour) costs will increase by $454 from the previous approval. This increase is due to increase in the postage rate estimated for mailed in submissions. This results in an estimated annual cost burden of $26,695.
$1,397,232
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
Parikha Mehta 571 272-3248
No
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
Power of Attorney to Prosecute Applications Before the USPTO (Private Sector)