The Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995 requires Federal agencies to obtain Office of Management and Budget approval before requesting most types of information from the public. When OMB approves an agency request to collect information from the public, OMB (i) provides a valid OMB Control Number and expiration date for the agency to display on the instrument that will be used to collect the information and (ii) requires the agency to inform the public about the OMB Control Number's legal significance in accordance with 5 CFR 1320.5(b).
The Office has obtained OMB approval for the information it will collect through form PTO/SB/42 titled "Information Disclosure Citation in a Patent." A valid OMB control number and expiration date, as well as a PRA burden statement and information about the OMB Control Number's legal significance, for form PTO/SB/42 is displayed directly on form PTO/SB/42. However, information pertaining to citations of prior art and written statements under 37 CFR 1.501 collected directly via EFS-Web does not have a corresponding location on which the required information can be displayed. The following information is thus provided for information pertaining to citations of prior art and written statements under 37 CFR 1.501 collected directly via EFS-Web.
For information pertaining to citations of prior art and written statements under 37 CFR 1.501 collected directly via EFS-Web, the OMB Control Number is 0651-0067, and OMB's current approval is valid through November 30, 2021. The information being collected is required for the public to obtain or retain the benefit provided for in 35 U.S.C. 301 and 37 CFR 1.501. The collection of information is estimated to take ten hours to complete, including gathering, preparing, and submitting the information to the USPTO.
Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The confidentiality of all information collected is governed by 35 U.S.C. 122 and 37 CFR 1.11 and 1.14. Although estimates have been provided for the time to complete each form, time will vary depending upon the individual case. Any comments on the amount of time required to submit the information being collected and/or suggestions for reducing the burden of providing the requested information, should be sent to the Chief Information Officer, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, U.S. Department of Commerce, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450.