PTO-Trademark Electronic Official Gazette Submission Request

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 0690-0030)

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Trademark Electronic Official Gazette Customer Satisfaction Survey

PURPOSE:

To gain insights into users’ initial reactions and responses toward the new Trademark Electronic Official Gazette in order to make improvements to it based on user feedback.

The gazette is an official publication created by the USPTO for Trademarks and is stored as an official record in the National Archives. Trademarks are published in the gazette when they are being published for opposition, when they are being registered, when they are being cancelled, or when the registration is changed in some way. Every week, the USPTO releases an official gazette of all the trademarks that are being published. A typical gazette issue has 10,000 marks; about 50% of them are published to seek opposition.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:

Trademark Attorneys, Trademark Paralegals, Trademark Researchers, Business Analysts, Information Technology Professionals, Academicians, and other trademark filers.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)

[ ] Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form [X] Customer Satisfaction Survey

[ ] Usability Testing (e.g., Website or Software) [ ] Small Discussion Group

[ ] Focus Group [ ] Other: _______________

CERTIFICATION:

I certify the following to be true:

1. The collection is voluntary.

2. The collection is low-burden for respondents and low-cost for the Federal Government.

3. The collection is non-controversial and does not raise issues of concern to other federal agencies.

4. The results are not intended to be disseminated to the public.

5. Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy decisions.

6. The collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions from respondents who have experience with the program or may have experience with the program in the future.

Name: Arthi Murugesan

To assist review, please provide answers to the following question:

Personally Identifiable Information:

1. Is personally identifiable information (PII) collected? [ ] Yes [X] No

2. If Yes, is the information that will be collected included in records that are subject to the Privacy Act of 1974? [ ] Yes [ ] No

3. If Applicable, has a System or Records Notice been published? [ ] Yes [X] No

Gifts or Payments:

Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to participants? [ ] Yes [X] No

BURDEN HOURS

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden
Private Sector	140	15 minutes (0.25 hours)	35 hours
Totals	140	--------------	35 hours

One third of the trademark applications filed with the USPTO are filed by pro se applicants. The USPTO expects that one third of those looking at the gazette would be pro se applicants or small entities. Based on this, the USPTO estimates that 47 of the 140 surveys will be completed by small entities.

The USPTO estimates that 80% of the surveys will be submitted electronically (approximately 112 of the 140 surveys).

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is $1,110.

If you are conducting a focus group, survey, or plan to employ statistical methods, please provide answers to the following questions:

The selection of your targeted respondents

1. Do you have a customer list or something similar that defines the universe of potential respondents and do you have a sampling plan for selecting from this universe? [] Yes [X] No

If the answer is yes, please provide a description of both below (or attach the sampling plan)? If the answer is no, please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them?

There will be an announcement on the uspto.gov website regarding the Trademark Electronic Official Gazette project, as well as access from there to the online collection instrument. The online survey may also be printed, and users have the option of mailing in their responses. Notices announcing the online survey will be published in the Federal Register. Announcements about the Trademark Electronic Official Gazette and the online survey will also be made in trademark events that are open to the public.

Administration of the Instrument

1. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)

[X] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[ ] Telephone

[ ] In-person

[X] Mail

[ ] Other

The agency plans to use “Survey Monkey” to host the survey questions; these questions may also be printed on paper and users have the option of mailing in their responses. 

2. Will interviewers or facilitators be used? [ ] Yes [X] No

Please make sure that all instruments, instructions, and scripts are submitted with the request.

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