Requirements for Patent Applications Containing Nucleotide Sequence and/or Amino Acid Sequence Disclosures, 65537-65539 [2012-26471]

Download as PDF rmajette on DSK2TPTVN1PROD with Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 209 / Monday, October 29, 2012 / Notices environments, as well as submerged cultural history; (2) Investigating ocean dynamics and interactions in new places and at new scales; (3) Developing new ocean sensors and systems to increase the pace and efficiency of ocean exploration; and (4) Disseminating information to a broad spectrum of users through formal and informal education and outreach programs. For more information on the Ocean Exploration Program please visit the Web sites: https:// Oceanexplorer.noaa.gov and https:// explore.noaa.gov. This notice solicits applications for membership on the Ocean Exploration Advisory Board. The purpose of the Ocean Exploration Advisory Board (the Board) is to advise the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere (Under Secretary), who is also the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, on matters pertaining to ocean exploration including: The identification of priority areas that warrant exploration; the development and enhancement of technologies for exploring the oceans; managing the data and information; and disseminating the results. The Board will also provide advice on the relevance of the program with regard to the NOAA Strategic Plan, the National Ocean Policy Implementation Plan, and other relevant guidance documents. Authority to Which the Committee Reports: The Board will report to the Under Secretary, as directed by Section 12005 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.) part of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 (33 U.S.C. 3405). The Board shall function solely as an advisory body in accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), as amended, 5 U.S.C. App., with the exception of section 14. Description of Duties: The Board shall: a. Advise the Under Secretary on all aspects of ocean exploration including areas, features, and phenomena that warrant exploration; and other areas of program operation, including development and enhancement of technologies for exploring the ocean, managing ocean exploration data and information, and disseminating the results to the public, scientists, and educators; b. Assist the program in the development of a 5-year strategic plan for the fields of ocean, marine, and Great Lakes science, exploration, and discovery, as well as making VerDate Mar<15>2010 13:18 Oct 26, 2012 Jkt 229001 recommendations to NOAA on the evolution of the plan based on results and achievements; c. Annually review the quality and effectiveness of the proposal review process established under Section 12003(a)(4); and d. Provide other assistance and advice as requested by the Under Secretary. Points of View: The Board will consist of approximately ten members including a Chair and Co-chair, designated by the Under Secretary in accordance with FACA requirements. Consideration will be given to candidates who are experts in fields relevant to ocean exploration, including ocean scientists, engineers and technical experts, educators, social scientists, and communications experts. Membership will be open to all individuals who have degrees, professional qualifications, scientific credentials, national reputations, international reputations, or relevant experience that will enable them to provide expert advice concerning the Ocean Exploration Program’s roles within the context of NOAA’s ocean missions and policies. Members will be appointed for 3-year terms, renewable once, and serve at the discretion of the Under Secretary. The Chair and Co-chair will serve 3-year terms renewable once. Initial appointments will include: Four members serving an initial 3-year term, three members serving an initial 4-year term and three members serving an initial 5-year term. All renewals will be 3-year terms. If a member resigns before the end of his or her first term, the vacancy appointment shall be for the remainder of the unexpired term, and shall be renewable twice if the unexpired term is less than one year. Members will be appointed as special government employees (SGEs) and will be subject to the ethical standards applicable to SGEs. Members are reimbursed for actual and reasonable expenses incurred in performing such duties but will not be reimbursed for their time. As a Federal Advisory Committee the Board’s membership is required to be balanced in terms of viewpoints represented and the functions to be performed as well as including the interests of geographic regions of the country and the diverse sectors of our society. The Board will meet two times each year, exclusive of subcommittee, task force, and working group meetings. Nominations: Nominations must provide: (1) The nominee’s full name, title, institutional affiliation, and contact information; (2) the nominee’s area(s) of expertise; and (3) a short PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 65537 description of his/her qualifications relative to the kinds of advice being solicited. Inclusion of a (maximum length 4 pages) resume or curriculum vitae is recommended, but not required. Applications: An application is required to be considered for Board membership. To apply, submit a current resume (maximum length 4 pages) as indicated in the ADDRESSES section that includes: (1) The applicant’s full name, title, institutional affiliation, and contact information (mailing address, email, telephones, fax); (2) the nominee’s area(s) of expertise; and (3) a short description of his/her qualifications relative to the kinds of advice being solicited. A cover letter stating their interest in serving on the Board and highlighting specific areas of expertise relevant to the purpose of the Board is required. Dated: October 23, 2012. Jason Donaldson, Chief Financial Officer/Chief Administrative Officer, Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. [FR Doc. 2012–26512 Filed 10–26–12; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 3510–KA–P DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Patent and Trademark Office Requirements for Patent Applications Containing Nucleotide Sequence and/ or Amino Acid Sequence Disclosures ACTION: Proposed collection; comment request. 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 take this opportunity to comment on the 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 December 28, 2012. ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods: • Email: InformationCollection@uspto.gov. Include ‘‘0651–0024 comment’’ in the subject line of the message. • Mail: Susan K. Fawcett, Records Officer, Office of the Chief Information Officer, United States Patent and Trademark Office, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313–1450. • Federal Rulemaking Portal: https:// www.regulations.gov. SUMMARY: E:\FR\FM\29OCN1.SGM 29OCN1 65538 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 209 / Monday, October 29, 2012 / Notices FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information should be directed to Raul Tamayo, Legal Advisor, Office of Patent Legal Administration, United States Patent and Trademark Office, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313–1450; by telephone at 571–272–7728; or by email to Raul.Tamayo@uspto.gov. Additional information about this collection is also available at https://www.reginfo.gov under ‘‘Information Collection Review.’’ SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. Abstract Patent applications that contain nucleotide and/or amino acid sequence disclosures must include a copy of the sequence listing in accordance with the requirements in 37 CFR 1.821–1.825. The rules of practice require applicants to submit these sequence listings in a standard international format that is consistent with World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Standard ST.25 (1998). Applicants may submit sequence listings for both U.S. and international patent applications. The USPTO uses the sequence listings during the examination process to determine the patentability of the associated patent application. Sequence listings are also disclosed as part of the published patent application or issued patent. Sequence listings that are extremely long (files larger than 600K or approximately 300 printed pages) are published only in electronic form and are available to the public on the USPTO sequence data Web page (https://seqdata.uspto.gov) as an ASCII text file. The sequence listing required by 37 CFR 1.821(c) for U.S. patent applications may be submitted on paper, compact disc (CD), or through EFS-Web, the USPTO’s online filing system. Sequence listings for international applications may be submitted on paper or through EFS-Web only, though sequence listings that are too large to be filed electronically through EFS-Web may be submitted on a separate CD. Applicants may use EFSWeb to file a sequence listing online with a patent application or subsequent to a previously filed application. Under 37 CFR 1.821(e)–(f), applicants must also submit a copy of the sequence listing in ‘‘computer readable form’’ (CRF) with a statement indicating that the CRF copy of the sequence listing is identical to the paper or CD copy required by 1.821(c). Applicants may submit the CRF copy of the sequence listing to the USPTO on CD or other acceptable media as provided in 37 CFR 1.824. Sequence listings that are submitted online through EFS-Web in the proper text format do not require a separate CRF copy or the associated statement. If the CRF sequence listing in a new application is identical to the CRF sequence listing of another application that the applicant already has on file at the USPTO, 37 CFR 1.821(e) permits the applicant to refer to the CRF listing in the other application rather than having to submit a duplicate copy of the CRF listing for the new application. In such a case, the applicant may submit a letter identifying the application and CRF sequence listing that is already on file and stating that the sequence listing submitted in the new application is identical to the CRF copy already filed with the previous application. The USPTO provides a form, Request for Transfer of a Computer Readable Form Under 37 CFR 1.821(e) (PTO/SB/93), in order to assist customers in submitting this statement. This information collection contains the sequence listings that are submitted with biotechnology patent applications. Information pertaining to the filing of the initial patent application itself is Item rmajette on DSK2TPTVN1PROD with Totals .................................................................................................. Estimated Total Annual Non-hour Respondent Cost Burden: $2,542,350. This collection has annual (non-hour) costs in the form of fees and postage costs. The USPTO provides free software for creating and validating the 13:18 Oct 26, 2012 Jkt 229001 II. Method of Collection By mail, hand delivery, or electronically to the USPTO. III. Data OMB Number: 0651–0024. Form Number(s): PTO/SB/93. Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved collection. Affected Public: Individuals or households; businesses or other forprofits; and not-for-profit institutions. Estimated Number of Respondents: 25,250 responses per year. The USPTO estimates that approximately 27% of these responses will be from small entities. Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that it will take the public approximately six minutes (0.10 hours) to six hours (6.0 hours) to gather the necessary information, prepare the form or sequence listing, and submit it to the USPTO. Estimated Total Annual Respondent Burden Hours: 138,225 hours. Estimated Total Annual Respondent Cost Burden: $22,590,450. The USPTO estimates that a sequence listing will take approximately five hours of paraprofessional time at an estimated rate of $122 per hour and one hour of attorney time at $371 per hour, for a weighted average rate of $163.50 per hour for preparing a sequence listing. The USPTO expects that the Request for Transfer of a CRF will be prepared by a paraprofessional at an estimated rate of $122 per hour. Therefore, the USPTO estimates that the respondent cost burden for this collection will be approximately $22,590,450 per year. Estimated time for response Sequence Listing in Application (paper) .................................................... Sequence Listing in Application (CD) ........................................................ Electronic Sequence Listing in Application (EFS-Web) ............................ Request for Transfer of a Computer Readable Form Under 37 CFR 1.821(e) (PTO/SB/93). VerDate Mar<15>2010 collected under OMB Control Number 0651–0032, and international applications submitted under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) are covered under OMB Control Number 0651–0021. 6 6 6 6 Frm 00008 Fmt 4703 Estimated annual burden hours hours ............................................ hours ............................................ hours ............................................ minutes ......................................... 8,500 500 14,000 2,250 51,000 3,000 84,000 225 .......................................................... 25,250 138,225 format of sequence listings prior to submission. In accordance with 35 U.S.C. 41(a)(1)(G), the USPTO only charges a fee for submitting a sequence listing as part of a U.S. application or as part of PO 00000 Estimated annual responses Sfmt 4703 an international application entering the U.S. national stage if the sequence listing (i) is not filed via EFS-Web or not filed on an electronic medium in compliance with §§ 1.52(e) and 1.821(c) or (e), and (ii) causes the application to E:\FR\FM\29OCN1.SGM 29OCN1 rmajette on DSK2TPTVN1PROD with Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 209 / Monday, October 29, 2012 / Notices exceed 100 pages. (See 37 CFR 1.52(f).) Under 37 CFR 1.16(s) and 1.492(j) for U.S. applications and international applications entering the U.S. national stage, respectively, if the application, including the sequence listings filed on paper or on a non-compliant electronic medium, exceeds 100 pages, the application size fee is $320 (or $160 for small entities) for each additional 50 pages or fraction thereof. The USPTO estimates that approximately 250 applications from large entities with long sequence listings filed on paper or on a non-compliant electronic medium will incur an average application size fee of $960, and approximately 200 applications from small entities with long sequence listings filed on paper or on a non-compliant electronic medium will incur an average application size fee of $480, for a total of $336,000 per year. As a Receiving Office, the USPTO collects the international filing fee for each international application it receives. The basic international filing fee only covers the first 30 pages of the international application. As a result, a $16 fee per page is added to the international filing fee for each page over 30 pages of an international application including a sequence listing filed on paper or in PDF format. No page fees are triggered by sequence listings that are submitted via EFS-Web in the proper text format. The average length of a sequence listing filed on paper or in PDF format in an international application is 150 pages, which would carry an additional fee of $2,400 if the international application were already at least 30 pages long without the listing. The USPTO estimates that approximately 900 of the 8,500 sequence listings filed per year on paper or in PDF format will be for international applications, for a total of $2,160,000 per year in page fees. Therefore, this collection has a total of $2,496,000 in fees per year. Customers may incur postage costs when submitting a sequence listing to the USPTO by mail. Mailed submissions may include the sequence listing on either paper or CD, the CRF copy of the listing on CD, and a transmittal letter containing the required identifying information. The USPTO estimates that the average postage cost for a paper or CD sequence listing submission will be $5.15 and that 9,000 sequence listings will be mailed to the USPTO per year, for a total postage cost of $46,350 per year. The total annual (non-hour) respondent cost burden for this collection in the form of fees and VerDate Mar<15>2010 13:18 Oct 26, 2012 Jkt 229001 postage costs is estimated to be $2,542,350 per year. 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; (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, e.g., the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology. Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized or included in the request for OMB approval of this information collection; they also will become a matter of public record. Dated: October 24, 2012. Susan K. Fawcett, Records Officer, USPTO, Office of the Chief Information Officer. [FR Doc. 2012–26471 Filed 10–26–12; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 3510–16–P COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION Meeting of Global Markets Advisory Committee Commodity Futures Trading Commission (‘‘CFTC’’). ACTION: Notice. AGENCY: The CFTC announces a meeting of its Global Markets Advisory Committee (‘‘GMAC’’). DATES: The meeting will be held on November 7, 2012, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Members of the public who wish to submit written statements in connection with the meeting should submit them by October 31, 2012. ADDRESSES: The meeting will take place in the Conference Center at the CFTC’s headquarters, Three Lafayette Centre, 1155 21st Street NW., Washington, DC 20581. Written statements should be submitted to: Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Three Lafayette Centre, 1155 21st Street NW., Washington, DC 20581, attention: Office of the Secretary. Please use the title ‘‘Global Markets Advisory Committee’’ in any written statement you may submit. Any statements submitted in connection with the committee meeting will be made available to the public. SUMMARY: PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 65539 FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kevin Batteh, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Three Lafayette Centre, 1155 21st Street NW., Washington, DC 20581, (202) 418–5636. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This meeting is being held with less than fifteen days notice so that the Committee may obtain the important views of international regulators, futures industry professionals, and market participants on cross-border issues related to OTC derivatives reform implementation. There will be two panels: the first comprised of regulators from around the globe and the second comprised of the GMAC members. The meeting will be open to the public with seating on a first-come, firstserved basis. Members of the public who wish to listen to the meeting by telephone may do so by calling a tollfree telephone line to contact to a live, listen-only audio feed. Call-in participants should be prepared to provide their first name, last name and affiliation. Additionally, a video recording of the meeting will be published through a link on the CFTC’s Web site. The call-in information, along with any conference and/or access codes for callers outside of the US will be posted on the CFTC Web site prior to the meeting. Domestic callers can dial 866–844–9416 and use the conference pass code ‘‘CFTC.’’ All written submissions provided to the CFTC in any form will also be published on the Web site of the CFTC. Authority: 5 U.S.C. app. 2 § 10(a)(2). Dated: October 24, 2012. By the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Sauntia S. Warfield, Assistant Secretary of the Commission. [FR Doc. 2012–26533 Filed 10–26–12; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE P DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE Office of the Secretary [Docket ID: DoD–2012–OS–0132] Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records Office of the Secretary of Defense, DoD. ACTION: Notice to Amend a System of Records. AGENCY: The Office of the Secretary of Defense is amending a system of records notice in its existing inventory of record systems subject to the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a), as amended. SUMMARY: E:\FR\FM\29OCN1.SGM 29OCN1

Agencies

[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 209 (Monday, October 29, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65537-65539]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-26471]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Patent and Trademark Office


Requirements for Patent Applications Containing Nucleotide 
Sequence and/or Amino Acid Sequence Disclosures

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 take this 
opportunity to comment on the 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 December 28, 
2012.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
     Email: InformationCollection@uspto.gov. Include ``0651-
0024 comment'' in the subject line of the message.
     Mail: Susan K. Fawcett, Records Officer, Office of the 
Chief Information Officer, United States Patent and Trademark Office, 
P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450.
     Federal Rulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov.

[[Page 65538]]


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information 
should be directed to Raul Tamayo, Legal Advisor, Office of Patent 
Legal Administration, United States Patent and Trademark Office, P.O. 
Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450; by telephone at 571-272-7728; or 
by email to Raul.Tamayo@uspto.gov. Additional information about this 
collection is also available at https://www.reginfo.gov under 
``Information Collection Review.''

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Abstract

    Patent applications that contain nucleotide and/or amino acid 
sequence disclosures must include a copy of the sequence listing in 
accordance with the requirements in 37 CFR 1.821-1.825. The rules of 
practice require applicants to submit these sequence listings in a 
standard international format that is consistent with World 
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Standard ST.25 (1998). 
Applicants may submit sequence listings for both U.S. and international 
patent applications.
    The USPTO uses the sequence listings during the examination process 
to determine the patentability of the associated patent application. 
Sequence listings are also disclosed as part of the published patent 
application or issued patent. Sequence listings that are extremely long 
(files larger than 600K or approximately 300 printed pages) are 
published only in electronic form and are available to the public on 
the USPTO sequence data Web page (https://seqdata.uspto.gov) as an ASCII 
text file.
    The sequence listing required by 37 CFR 1.821(c) for U.S. patent 
applications may be submitted on paper, compact disc (CD), or through 
EFS-Web, the USPTO's online filing system. Sequence listings for 
international applications may be submitted on paper or through EFS-Web 
only, though sequence listings that are too large to be filed 
electronically through EFS-Web may be submitted on a separate CD. 
Applicants may use EFS-Web to file a sequence listing online with a 
patent application or subsequent to a previously filed application.
    Under 37 CFR 1.821(e)-(f), applicants must also submit a copy of 
the sequence listing in ``computer readable form'' (CRF) with a 
statement indicating that the CRF copy of the sequence listing is 
identical to the paper or CD copy required by 1.821(c). Applicants may 
submit the CRF copy of the sequence listing to the USPTO on CD or other 
acceptable media as provided in 37 CFR 1.824. Sequence listings that 
are submitted online through EFS-Web in the proper text format do not 
require a separate CRF copy or the associated statement.
    If the CRF sequence listing in a new application is identical to 
the CRF sequence listing of another application that the applicant 
already has on file at the USPTO, 37 CFR 1.821(e) permits the applicant 
to refer to the CRF listing in the other application rather than having 
to submit a duplicate copy of the CRF listing for the new application. 
In such a case, the applicant may submit a letter identifying the 
application and CRF sequence listing that is already on file and 
stating that the sequence listing submitted in the new application is 
identical to the CRF copy already filed with the previous application. 
The USPTO provides a form, Request for Transfer of a Computer Readable 
Form Under 37 CFR 1.821(e) (PTO/SB/93), in order to assist customers in 
submitting this statement.
    This information collection contains the sequence listings that are 
submitted with biotechnology patent applications. Information 
pertaining to the filing of the initial patent application itself is 
collected under OMB Control Number 0651-0032, and international 
applications submitted under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) are 
covered under OMB Control Number 0651-0021.

II. Method of Collection

    By mail, hand delivery, or electronically to the USPTO.

III. Data

    OMB Number: 0651-0024.
    Form Number(s): PTO/SB/93.
    Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households; businesses or other 
for-profits; and not-for-profit institutions.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 25,250 responses per year. The 
USPTO estimates that approximately 27% of these responses will be from 
small entities.
    Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that it will take 
the public approximately six minutes (0.10 hours) to six hours (6.0 
hours) to gather the necessary information, prepare the form or 
sequence listing, and submit it to the USPTO.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Burden Hours: 138,225 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Cost Burden: $22,590,450. The 
USPTO estimates that a sequence listing will take approximately five 
hours of paraprofessional time at an estimated rate of $122 per hour 
and one hour of attorney time at $371 per hour, for a weighted average 
rate of $163.50 per hour for preparing a sequence listing. The USPTO 
expects that the Request for Transfer of a CRF will be prepared by a 
paraprofessional at an estimated rate of $122 per hour. Therefore, the 
USPTO estimates that the respondent cost burden for this collection 
will be approximately $22,590,450 per year.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                     Estimated       Estimated
                     Item                          Estimated time for response        annual       annual burden
                                                                                     responses         hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sequence Listing in Application (paper).......  6 hours.........................           8,500          51,000
Sequence Listing in Application (CD)..........  6 hours.........................             500           3,000
Electronic Sequence Listing in Application      6 hours.........................          14,000          84,000
 (EFS-Web).
Request for Transfer of a Computer Readable     6 minutes.......................           2,250             225
 Form Under 37 CFR 1.821(e) (PTO/SB/93).
                                               -----------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals....................................  ................................          25,250         138,225
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Estimated Total Annual Non-hour Respondent Cost Burden: $2,542,350. 
This collection has annual (non-hour) costs in the form of fees and 
postage costs. The USPTO provides free software for creating and 
validating the format of sequence listings prior to submission.
    In accordance with 35 U.S.C. 41(a)(1)(G), the USPTO only charges a 
fee for submitting a sequence listing as part of a U.S. application or 
as part of an international application entering the U.S. national 
stage if the sequence listing (i) is not filed via EFS-Web or not filed 
on an electronic medium in compliance with Sec. Sec.  1.52(e) and 
1.821(c) or (e), and (ii) causes the application to

[[Page 65539]]

exceed 100 pages. (See 37 CFR 1.52(f).) Under 37 CFR 1.16(s) and 
1.492(j) for U.S. applications and international applications entering 
the U.S. national stage, respectively, if the application, including 
the sequence listings filed on paper or on a non-compliant electronic 
medium, exceeds 100 pages, the application size fee is $320 (or $160 
for small entities) for each additional 50 pages or fraction thereof. 
The USPTO estimates that approximately 250 applications from large 
entities with long sequence listings filed on paper or on a non-
compliant electronic medium will incur an average application size fee 
of $960, and approximately 200 applications from small entities with 
long sequence listings filed on paper or on a non-compliant electronic 
medium will incur an average application size fee of $480, for a total 
of $336,000 per year.
    As a Receiving Office, the USPTO collects the international filing 
fee for each international application it receives. The basic 
international filing fee only covers the first 30 pages of the 
international application. As a result, a $16 fee per page is added to 
the international filing fee for each page over 30 pages of an 
international application including a sequence listing filed on paper 
or in PDF format. No page fees are triggered by sequence listings that 
are submitted via EFS-Web in the proper text format. The average length 
of a sequence listing filed on paper or in PDF format in an 
international application is 150 pages, which would carry an additional 
fee of $2,400 if the international application were already at least 30 
pages long without the listing. The USPTO estimates that approximately 
900 of the 8,500 sequence listings filed per year on paper or in PDF 
format will be for international applications, for a total of 
$2,160,000 per year in page fees. Therefore, this collection has a 
total of $2,496,000 in fees per year.
    Customers may incur postage costs when submitting a sequence 
listing to the USPTO by mail. Mailed submissions may include the 
sequence listing on either paper or CD, the CRF copy of the listing on 
CD, and a transmittal letter containing the required identifying 
information. The USPTO estimates that the average postage cost for a 
paper or CD sequence listing submission will be $5.15 and that 9,000 
sequence listings will be mailed to the USPTO per year, for a total 
postage cost of $46,350 per year.
    The total annual (non-hour) respondent cost burden for this 
collection in the form of fees and postage costs is estimated to be 
$2,542,350 per year.

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; 
(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, e.g., the use of automated 
collection techniques or other forms of information technology.
    Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized or 
included in the request for OMB approval of this information 
collection; they also will become a matter of public record.

    Dated: October 24, 2012.
Susan K. Fawcett,
Records Officer, USPTO, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2012-26471 Filed 10-26-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-16-P
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