Sect A UPAS 2007 Just

SUPPORTING STATEMENT
United States Patent and Trademark Office
United States Patent Applicant Survey
OMB Control No. 0651-0052

A.

JUSTIFICATION

1.

Necessity of Information Collection

For several years, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has
supported an ongoing forecasting program for patent application filings that includes the
use of quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Given the importance of accurate
application filings forecasts, the USPTO considers more than one type of methodology.
As part of this strategy, information from a survey of the inventor community is included
when formulating application filings forecasts. In addition to using the survey as part of
a comprehensive approach to forecasting, the USPTO is also using this tool in response
to the Senate Appropriations Report 106-404 (September 8, 2000). This report directed
the USPTO to “develop a workload forecast with advice from a representative sample of
industry and the inventory community” (Ref A). A patent application filing survey will
assist the USPTO in better understanding key factors driving future application filings,
such as newly emerging technologies.
The USPTO has developed the United States Patent Applicant Survey as part of the
continuing effort to better predict the future growth of patent application filings by
understanding applicant intentions. The main purpose of this survey is to determine the
number of application filings that the USPTO can expect to receive over the next three
years from patent-generating entities, ranging from large domestic corporations to
independent inventors.
In recent years, the rate of patent application filings to the USPTO steadily increased
with expanding technological innovations. However, newly emerging technologies,
evolving business patenting strategies, patent valuations and costs, and intellectual
property legislative changes, among other factors, may significantly impact patent
applicants’ decisions to file applications at the USPTO. These factors cannot easily be
accounted for in other methodologies or sufficient information is not available from
databases or other sources and it is necessary for the USPTO to conduct the United
States Patent Applicant Survey to obtain information directly from applicants. The
information will allow the agency to anticipate demand and estimate future revenue flow
more reliably; to identify input and output triggers and allocate resources to meet and
understand customer needs; and to reassess output and capacity goals and re-align
organization quality control measures with applicant demand by division.
The USPTO has partnered with Synovate, an independent research firm, to administer
the sixth annual United States Patent Applicant Survey. Each entity that is surveyed in
2008 will be asked to provide the number of patent applications that it submitted to the

USPTO in 2007 and to provide estimates for the number of patent applications that it
expects to submit in 2008, 2009, and 2010.
The USPTO plans to survey four groups of respondents: large domestic corporations
(including those with 500+ employees), small and medium-size businesses, universities
and non-profit research organizations, and independent inventors. The USPTO does
not plan to survey foreign entities and will rely on the European Patent Office (EPO) and
the Japan Patent Office (JPO) to provide forecasts of application filings by foreign
entities. Due to variances in filing and the varying needs of the different patent
applicant populations, the USPTO has developed two versions of the survey: one for
the large domestic corporations and small and medium-sized businesses and one for
universities, non-profit research organizations, and independent inventors.
Since the initial survey, administered in late 2002, the USPTO has redesigned the
survey to eliminate difficulties and coordinate analysis more easily with parallel surveys
conducted concurrently by the European and Japan Patent Offices.
There are no statutes or regulations requiring the USPTO to conduct these customer
surveys. The USPTO uses surveys to implement Executive Order 12862 of September
11, 1993, Setting Customer Service Standards, published in the Federal Register on
September 14, 1993 (Volume 58, Number 176). These surveys also support various
strategic plan initiatives developed by the USPTO to fulfill customer service and
performance goals, to assist the USPTO in strategic planning for future initiatives, to
verify existing service standards, and to establish new ones.
2.

Needs and Uses

The United States Patent Applicant Survey is a mail survey, although respondents have
the option to complete the survey electronically. They may also provide their responses
verbally over the telephone.
A survey packet, containing the survey, a cover letter explaining the purpose of and
outlining instructions for completing the survey, and a postage-paid, pre-addressed
return envelope will be mailed to all survey groups.
In the case of large businesses (more than 500 employees, excluding the top 185
patent-generating entities) and small to medium-size businesses, a pre-notification letter
will be sent asking respondents to confirm the name and mailing address of the person
to whom the survey should be sent. An example of a typical pre-notification letter that
will be sent to these large and small to medium-size businesses is provided in this
submission (Ref B). Follow-up phone calls will be made to all of the original contacts in
the large domestic corporations, the universities, and non-profit research organizations
approximately two weeks after the initial packet mailing. A suggested script has been
developed to ensure that all of the staff conducting the follow-up phone calls ask the
2

same questions, in the same manner (Ref C). Approximately one week after the initial
packet mailing, reminder cards will be mailed to the original contacts in large domestic
corporations with 500 or more employees, independent inventors, and small to mediumsize businesses. An example of such a card is also provided in this submission (Ref D).
Survey packets are mailed to all of the target groups. Respondents can then choose
whether to mail the completed survey back to the USPTO’s survey contractor
(Synovate) or respond to the survey online through Synovate’s website. The cover
letter included with the questionnaire booklets contains instructions for accessing the
survey online through Synovate’s website and provides the 6-digit access code that
respondents need to access the electronic survey.
The Information Quality Guidelines from Section 515 of Public Law 106-554, Treasury
and General Government Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2001, apply to this
information collection and comply with all applicable information quality guidelines, i.e.,
OMB and specific operating unit guidelines (Ref E).
This proposed collection of information will result in information that will be collected,
maintained, and used in a way consistent with all applicable OMB and USPTO
Information Quality Guidelines.
Table 1 outlines how these collections of information are used by the public and the
USPTO. There are two versions of the survey. One version is sent to the large
domestic corporations and small and medium-sized businesses; the other version is
sent to the universities, non-profit research organizations, and independent inventors.
The mail and online versions of the survey are exactly the same, so separate copies of
the online versions of these surveys have not been included in this submission.
Table 1: Needs and Uses of Information Collected from the United States Patent Applicant Survey
Form and Function
Large Domestic Corporations
(paper and electronic survey)
(Ref F)

Small and Medium-Size Businesses
(paper and electronic survey)
(Ref F)

Form #

Needs and Uses
C

Survey
No Form
Associated

Survey
No Form
Associated

Used by the Vice Presidents for Intellectual Property for the
top 209 patent-generating corporations and large domestic
corporations with 500 or more employees to provide the
USPTO with the number of domestic, international, and
combined filings that their corporation plans to submit and
with general feedback concerning industry trends and the
survey for themselves and their subsidiaries.

C

Used by the USPTO to gather feedback to assist them in
estimating future revenue flow, to allocate resources, and
to determine quality control measures to meet the filing
demands of the large domestic corporations.

•

Used by the Chief Executive Officer of small to mediumsize businesses (less than 500 employees), U.S. research
institutions, government agencies, and non-profit
organizations to provide the USPTO with the number of
domestic, international, and combined filings that their

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businesses and organizations plan to submit and with
general feedback concerning industry trends and the
survey.

Universities and Non-Profit
Research Organizations
(paper and electronic survey)
(Ref G)

Independent Inventors
(paper and electronic survey)
(Ref H)

3.

Survey
No Form
Associated

Survey
No Form
Associated

•

Used by the USPTO to gather feedback to assist them in
estimating future revenue flow, to allocate resources, and to
determine quality control measures to meet the filing
demands of the small and medium-size businesses.

•

Used by the top 45 patent-generating universities based in
the United States to provide the USPTO with the number of
domestic, international, and combined filings that their
universities plan to submit and with general feedback
concerning industry trends and the survey.

•

Used by non-profit research organizations based in the
United States to provide the USPTO with the number of
domestic, international, and combined filings that their
organizations plan to submit and with general feedback
concerning industry trends and the survey.

•

Used by the USPTO to gather feedback to assist them in
estimating future revenue flow, to allocate resources, and to
determine quality control measures to meet the filing
demands of universities and non-profit research
organizations.

•

Used by randomly selected independent inventors to
provide the USPTO with the number of domestic,
international, and combined filings that they plan to submit
and with general feedback concerning industry trends and
the survey.

•

Used by the USPTO to gather feedback to assist them in
estimating future revenue flow, to allocate resources, and to
determine quality control measures to meet the filing
demands of independent inventors.

Use of Information Technology

Currently, the USPTO does not generally use mechanical collection techniques to
collect the responses to these surveys. However, those respondents who choose to
respond to the surveys can do so electronically and through automated collection
methods. Although the United States Patent Applicant Survey is a mail survey,
respondents can also provide their responses electronically or in some cases over the
telephone. Respondents can choose to mail their survey to Synovate or they can
provide their responses electronically over the Internet.
The cover letter that
accompanies the survey provides instructions for completing the survey online through
the survey contractor’s (Synovate’s) website and provides the 6-digit access code for
the survey.
In the case of large domestic corporations and the universities and non-profit research
organizations, Synovate will make follow-up phone calls approximately two weeks after
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the initial packet has been mailed. Although the primary purpose of these phone calls is
to answer any questions that the respondents may have concerning the survey, the
respondent can choose to complete the survey over the phone. Synovate will guide the
respondent through the same questionnaire that the respondent received in the mail. A
script is used to ensure that all of the necessary questions are asked of the respondents
in the same manner.
At this time, the USPTO does not disseminate any of the information collected from the
surveys electronically. As more of these surveys are conducted, the USPTO will
reevaluate whether this would be beneficial. After the survey is completed, a report
summarizing the survey results will be prepared by Synovate.
4.

Efforts to Identify Duplication

This information is collected only when large domestic corporations, small or mediumsize businesses, universities and non-profit organizations, and independent inventors
respond to the United States Patent Applicant Survey. Currently, there are no available
methods to gather the types of information proposed by these surveys directly from our
customers. The survey questions request contact information, information about
subsidiaries, domestic, international, and combined filings, general feedback concerning
industry trends that might affect patent application submissions, and any difficulties
encountered in trying to complete this survey. This information is not generally
available from other sources and is not collected elsewhere. Therefore, this collection
does not create a duplication of effort.
5.

Minimizing Burden to Small Entities

In order to reduce the burden on those responding to these surveys, the USPTO
developed two versions of the survey: one for the large domestic corporations and
small and medium-sized businesses, and one for universities, non-profit research
organizations, and independent inventors. The surveys are sent to the contacts that
have the most knowledge about the patent activity at his or her corporation, business, or
organization. The survey for the universities, non-profit research organizations, and
independent inventors is shorter than the other surveys because it does not ask
questions about subsidiaries. Therefore, universities, non-profit research organizations,
and independent inventors should take less time than businesses when completing the
survey.
In an effort to minimize burden, sample sizes are kept small and the number of
questions are limited to the minimum required to obtain useful information. All sizes of
businesses and individual customers will participate in these various surveys to
accurately portray customer requirements and service quality. It is important to include
small businesses in these surveys because the USPTO wants to encourage their use of
the patent and trademark systems.
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6.

Consequences of Less Frequent Collection

The information collected from the United States Patent Applicant Survey is needed so
that the USPTO can anticipate demand and estimate future revenue flow more reliably,
identify customer needs and allocate resources to meet those needs, to reassess output
and capacity goals, and to realign organization quality measures with workload demand
by type. Timely, valid information on customer requirements and assessment of the
USPTO’s performance is needed in order for the USPTO to accomplish these
measures. If this information was collected less frequently, the USPTO would not be
able to estimate future patent application activity accurately on a continuing basis.
7.

Special Circumstances in the Conduct of Information Collection

There are no special circumstances associated with this collection of information.
8.

Consultation Outside the Agency

The 60-Day Federal Register Notice was published on June 4, 2007 (Vol. 72, No. 106).
The public comment period ended on August 3, 2007. No comments from the public
were received.
There have been no comments received from the corporations/businesses, law firms,
educational institutions, and independent inventors frequently interviewed through these
types of surveys concerning the time required to provide the information requested in
the United States Patent Applicant Survey.
9.

Payment or Gifts to Respondents

This information collection does not involve a payment or gift to any respondent. This
survey is voluntary, so the respondent is not required to answer the questions.
10.

Assurance of Confidentiality

Data collected from the surveys will not be linked to the respondents. All contact
information collected from the questionnaire will be maintained in a separate file from
the quantitative data. At the end of the data collection, two files will be maintained by
the survey contractor (Synovate). One file will contain respondent contact information
and will establish a current and continuous sample file for use in future survey
administrations. The second file will contain the aggregate quantitative data and will be
delivered to the USPTO. Once the two files are created, respondent information will not
be realigned with the data collected.
Applicants can also choose to complete their survey online through Synovate’s website.
A six digit access code is needed to access the survey. This access code is generated
6

by Synovate and is provided in the initial cover letter that is sent with the mail survey.
The United States Patent Applicant Survey is protected under the Confidential
Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2002. All survey data will be
destroyed at the end of the project.
11.

Justification for Sensitive Questions

None of the required information is considered to be of a sensitive nature.
12.

Estimate of Hour and Cost Burden to Respondents

Table 2 calculates the burden hours and costs of this information collection to the
public, based on the following calculation factors:
C

Respondent Calculation Factors
Based on the response rates of the previous survey, the USPTO estimates that it will
receive the following number of responses for the 2008 survey. Of these surveys, the
USPTO estimates that 267 of them will be completed electronically.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

27 Large Domestic Corporations
53 Large Domestic Corporations (electronic surveys)
18 Small and Medium-Size Businesses
37 Small and Medium-Size Businesses (electronic surveys)
5 Universities and Non-Profit Research Organizations
10 Universities and Non-Profit Research Organizations (electronic surveys)
83 Independent Inventors
167 Independent Inventors (electronic surveys)

C

Burden Hour Calculation Factors
The USPTO estimates that it will take approximately 30 minutes (0.50 hours) for all of
the patent applicant populations to provide their responses, with the exception of the
independent inventors. The USPTO estimates that it will take independent inventors
approximately 15 minutes (0.25 hours) to provide their responses, since individually they
do not file as many patents as businesses, universities, or non-profits. These estimates
include the time to gather the necessary information, complete the survey, and submit it
to the USPTO. The USPTO believes that it will take the same amount of time to
complete the surveys whether they are completed on paper and mailed to the USPTO or
completed and submitted electronically.

C

Cost Burden Calculation Factors
The USPTO believes that these surveys will be completed by lawyers, legal assistants,
and respondents with diverse occupations and that the majority who choose to respond
to the survey will be respondents with diverse occupations. Therefore, the USPTO is
calculating the burden hours and costs using a rate that is based on 31% of lawyers, 9%
of legal assistants, and 60% of respondents with diverse occupations responding to the
survey. The USPTO is estimating an hourly rate of $54 for the lawyers, $24 for the legal

7

assistants, and $20 for the rest of the respondents. The hourly rate for the lawyers,
calculating 31% of $54, equals approximately $17, the hourly rate for the legal
assistants, calculating 9% of $24, equals approximately $2, and the hourly rate for
respondents with diverse occupations, calculating 60% of $20, equals approximately
$12. Adding these rates together provides the average total hourly rate of $31 that is
used to determine the burden hour costs to the public for this information collection.
This is a fully-loaded hourly rate.
Table 2. Burden Hour/Burden Cost to Respondents
Item

Hours
(a)

Responses
(yr)
(b)

Burden
(hrs/yr)
(c)
(a) x (b)

Rate
($/hr)

Total Cost
($/yr)
(e)
(c) x (d)

Large Domestic Corporations

0.50

27

14

$31.00

$434.00

Large Domestic Corporations
(electronic surveys)

0.50

53

27

$31.00

$837.00

Small and Medium-Size Businesses

0.50

18

9

$31.00

$279.00

Small and Medium-Size Businesses
(electronic surveys)

0.50

37

19

$31.00

$589.00

Universities and Non-Profit
Research Organizations

0.50

5

3

$31.00

$93.00

Universities and Non-Profit Research
Organizations (electronic surveys)

0.50

10

5

$31.00

$155.00

Independent Inventors

0.25

83

21

$31.00

$651.00

Independent Inventors (electronic
surveys)

0.25

167

42

$31.00

$1,302.00

400

140

-----------

$4,340.00

Totals

13.

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

Total Annualized Cost Burden

There are no capital start-up, maintenance and operation, or recordkeeping costs
associated with this information collection. Respondents do not need to submit filing
fees with these surveys. The USPTO provides postage-paid, pre-addressed return
envelopes for the completed mail surveys so there are no postage costs associated with
this information collection. Therefore, this information collection does not impose any
additional annual (non-hour) costs on the respondent.
14.

Annual Cost to the Federal Government

The USPTO has hired a contractor to conduct the United States Patent Applicant
Survey, so this survey is not conducted or processed by USPTO personnel. The
USPTO estimates that the contractor (Synovate) will spend $60,000 each year to
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conduct and process the annual United States Patent Applicant Survey. This estimate
includes various tasks such as processing the related survey correspondence,
performing data entry tasks, sampling, analyzing the data gathered, and preparing
reports on the findings.
15.

Reason for Change in Burden

Summary of Changes Since the Previous Renewal
The OMB approved this information collection on October 13, 2004, with 445
responses, 187 burden hours, and no annualized (non-hour) costs.
With this renewal, the USPTO estimates that the total burden for this collection will be
400 responses and 140 burden hours. There are still no annualized (non-hour) costs
for this collection. This is a reduction of 45 responses and 47 burden hours from the
currently approved burden for this collection.
These reductions are due to
administrative adjustments.
Changes in Respondent Cost Burden
When this collection was previously approved in October 2004, the USPTO believed
that the survey would be completed by both associate attorneys and
paraprofessional/paralegals, using a rate that was 75% professional and 25%
paraprofessional/paralegal. The hourly rates used to calculate the respondent cost
burden came from the Committee on Economics of Legal Practice of the American
Intellectual Property Law Association and the National Association of Legal Assistants
($286 and $81, respectively).
The USPTO now believes that the surveys will be completed by lawyers, legal
assistants, and respondents with diverse occupations and that the majority of people
who choose to respond to the survey will be respondents with diverse occupations. The
USPTO now estimates that the hourly rate will be based on 31% of lawyers, 9% of legal
assistants, and 60% of respondents with diverse occupations responding to the survey.
The USPTO has also reestimated the hourly rates for the lawyers ($54) and legal
assistants ($24) and estimates that the hourly rate for the rest of the respondents will be
$20. The USPTO estimates that the total respondent cost burden for this collection will
decrease by $39,605, from $43,945 to $4,340.
Changes in Responses and Burden Hours
For this renewal, the USPTO estimates that the annual responses for this collection will
decrease by 45 responses, from 445 to 400 responses per year. The USPTO estimates
that the total burden hours for this collection will decrease by 47 hours, from 187 to 140
burden hours per year. These changes are due to administrative adjustments, as
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follows:
•

The USPTO estimates that the number of large domestic corporations, large
domestic corporations (electronic), small and medium-size businesses, and
universities and non-profit research surveys submitted will decrease by 202
responses per year, from 305 responses to 103 responses. The USPTO believes
that this in turn will reduce the burden for this collection by 101 hours per year, from
154 hours to 53 hours. Therefore, this collection takes a net burden decrease of
101 hours per year as an administrative adjustment.

•

The USPTO estimates that the number of small and medium size businesses
(electronic) and universities and non-profit research organizations (electronic)
surveys submitted will increase by 7 responses per year, from 40 responses to 47
responses. The USPTO believes that this in turn will increase the burden for this
collection by 3 hours per year, from 21 hours to 24 hours. Therefore, this
collection takes a net burden increase of 3 hours per year as an administrative
adjustment.

•

The USPTO estimates that the number of surveys from the independent inventors,
both paper and electronic, submitted will increase by 150 responses per year, from
100 responses to 250 responses. In addition, the USPTO has reestimated the
amount of time that it takes an independent inventor to complete and submit the
survey. Originally, the USPTO believed that it took 7 minutes to complete this
survey, but the agency now believes that 15 minutes is a more accurate estimate.
The USPTO believes that this new time estimate, in addition to the increased
submissions, will increase the burden for this collection by 51 hours per year, from
12 hours to 63 hours. Therefore, this collection takes a net burden increase of
51 hours per year as an administrative adjustment.

The USPTO estimates that the total net burden for this collection will decrease by 47
hours per year, from 187 hours to 140 hours per year. In total, the USPTO estimates
that 54 hours will be added to the collection, but that these additional hours will be offset
by a reduction of 101 hours, for a total net burden reduction of 47 hours resulting from
administrative adjustments. In sum, this information collection has a net burden
reduction of 47 hours per year resulting from administrative adjustments.
Changes in Annual (Non-Hour) Costs
There are no changes in the annual (non-hour) costs from the previous renewal. The
United States Patent Applicant Survey does not impose any additional annual (nonhour) costs, in the form of capital start-up, operation and maintenance, recordkeeping,
and postage costs or filing fees, on respondents.

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16.

Project Schedule

There is no plan to publish this information for statistical use.
After the survey is completed, a report summarizing the results of the survey will be
prepared by the USPTO’s contractor. Each participant in the survey will receive a copy
of this report.
The primary goal is to forecast the change in the number of patent applications to be
submitted to the USPTO in the year before, the year of, and three years after the
survey. Respondents will be asked to estimate the number of patent applications that
they or their organization expects to submit.
The estimator for the expected change will be in the form of the stratified ratio estimator.
The stratified ratio estimator is a relatively straightforward method. The steps to be
taken are the following:
a) The sample is separated into the respective entities or groups: large
domestic corporations, small-to-medium businesses, independent
inventors, and universities and non-profit research organizations. These
groups comprise the strata.
b)

The total number of applications to be submitted for each stratum is
estimated. The respondent’s answers are calibrated using an external
measure of the number of applications received and/or applications
granted using the ratio estimator. For example, we will estimate the total
number of applications for the first stratum – the largest companies – by
calibrating to an external measure. By using this calibration, we will
forecast the number of applications to be submitted next year. This
process will be repeated for the next three strata.

c) The total number of applications is the sum of the four strata estimates.
d) The relative change in patent applications will be relative change between
next year’s estimated number of applications and this year’s.
Formally, the ratio estimator within a stratum will have the following form:

Th = N

h

X

h

yh
xh
11

where Xh is the mean number of applications in the sample and yh and xh are the
corresponding values from the independent measure of the number of applications and
the sample.
Standard errors will be calculated using a repeated-replicated standard estimation
method called the Jackknife method. This method provides a nearly unbiased estimate
of the standard error for the percentage change from the stratified ratio estimator.
The USPTO estimates a start date of April 1st, 2008, for the various activities related to
the Patent Applicant Survey. A projected schedule for the survey is provided below:
Tasks

Schedule (week of)

Obtain Contact Information from Dun and Bradstreet

April 5, 2008

Send Notification Cards

April 11, 2008

Begin Data Collection

April 25, 2008

Send Reminder Cards

May 16, 2008

Conduct Follow-up Calls

May 23, 2008

End Data Collection

May 30, 2008

Synovate Submits Preliminary Analysis to the USPTO

June 20, 2008

Synovate Submits Final Report to the USPTO

June 30, 2008

17.

Display of Expiration Date of OMB Approval

These surveys do not have USPTO form numbers associated with them. Once they are
approved, they will carry the OMB Control Number and the expiration date.
18.

Exception to the Certificate Statement

This collection of information does not include any exceptions to the certificate
statement.

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