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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 193 / Tuesday, October 6, 2015 / Notices

prohibitions provided in section 9(a)(1)
of the ESA, which specifically prohibits
‘‘take’’ of any endangered species
(‘‘take’’ includes actions that harass,
harm, pursue, kill, or capture). The first
salmonid species listed by NMFS as
threatened were protected by virtually
blanket application of the section 9 take
prohibitions. There are now 22 separate
Distinct Population Segments (DPS) of
west coast salmonids listed as
threatened, covering a large percentage
of the land base in California, Oregon,
Washington and Idaho. NMFS is
obligated to enact necessary and
advisable protective regulations. NMFS
makes section 9 prohibitions generally
applicable to many of those threatened
DPS, but also seeks to respond to
requests from states and others to both
provide more guidance on how to
protect threatened salmonids and avoid
take, and to limit the application of take
prohibitions wherever warranted (see 70
FR 37160, June 28, 2005, 71 FR 834,
January 5, 2006, and 73 FR 55451,
September 25, 2008). The regulations
describe programs or circumstances that
contribute to the conservation of, or are
being conducted in a way that limits
impacts on, listed salmonids. Because
we have determined that such
programs/circumstances adequately
protect listed salmonids, the regulations
do not apply the ‘‘take’’ prohibitions to
them. Some of these limits on the take
prohibitions entail voluntary
submission of a plan to NMFS and/or
annual or occasional reports by entities
wishing to take advantage of these
limits, or continue within them.
The currently approved application
and reporting requirements apply to
Pacific marine and anadromous fish
species, as requirements regarding other
species are being addressed in a
separate information collection.

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II. Method of Collection
Submissions may be electronically or
on paper.
III. Data
OMB Control Number: 0648–0399.
Form Number(s): None.
Type of Review: Regular submission
(extension of a currently approved
collection).
Affected Public: Federal government;
State, local, or tribal government;
business or other for-profit
organizations.
Estimated Number of Respondents:
300.
Estimated Time per Response: 20
hours for a road maintenance
agreement; 5 hours for a diversion
screening limit project; 30 hours for an
urban development package; 10 hours

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for an urban development report; 20
hours for a tribal plan; and 5 hours for
a report of aided, salvaged, or disposed
of salmonids.
Estimated Total Annual Burden
Hours: 1,705.
Estimated Total Annual Cost to
Public: $1,000 in recordkeeping/
reporting costs.
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, including through the
use of automated collection techniques
or other forms of information
technology.
Comments submitted in response to
this notice will be summarized and/or
included in the request for OMB
approval of this information collection;
they also will become a matter of public
record.
Dated: September 29, 2015.
Sarah Brabson,
NOAA PRA Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 2015–25332 Filed 10–5–15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–22–P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
Proposed Information Collection;
Comment Request; Interim Capital
Construction Fund Agreement,
Certificate Family of Forms and
Deposit/Withdrawal Report
National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:

The Department of
Commerce, 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
proposed and/or continuing information
collections, as required by the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.
DATES: Written comments must be
submitted on or before December 7,
2015.
SUMMARY:

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Direct all written comments
to Jennifer Jessup, Departmental
Paperwork Clearance Officer,
Department of Commerce, Room 6616,
14th and Constitution Avenue NW.,
Washington, DC 20230 (or via the
Internet at JJessup@doc.gov).

ADDRESSES:

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Requests for additional information or
copies of the information collection
instrument and instructions should be
directed to Richard VanGorder at
(301)427–8784 or Richard.VanGorder@
noaa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Abstract
This request is for extension of a
currently approved information
collection.
Respondents will be commercial
fishing industry individuals,
partnerships, and corporations which
entered into Capital Construction Fund
(CCF) agreements with the Secretary of
Commerce allowing deferral of Federal
taxation on fishing vessel income
deposited into the fund for use in the
acquisition, construction, or
reconstruction of fishing vessels.
Deferred taxes are recaptured by
reducing an agreement vessel’s basis for
depreciation by the amount withdrawn
from the fund for its acquisition,
construction, or reconstruction. The
interim Capital Construction Fund
Agreement and Certificate Family of
Forms is required pursuant to 50 CFR
part 259.30 and Public Law 99–514 (The
Tax Reform Act, 1986). The deposit/
withdrawal information collected from
agreement holders is required pursuant
to 50 CFR part 259.35 and Pub L. 99–
514. The information collected from
applicants for the Interim CCF
Agreement is used to determine their
eligibility to participate in the CCF
Program. The information collected
from agreement holders for the
Certificate Family of Forms is used to
identify their program eligible vessels,
their program projects and to certify the
cost of a project at completion. The
information collected on the deposit/
withdrawal report form is required to
ensure that agreement holders are
complying with fund deposit/
withdrawal requirements established in
program regulations and properly
accounting for fund activity on their
Federal income tax returns. The
information collected on the deposit/
withdrawal report must also be reported
semi-annually to the Secretary of
Treasury in accordance with the Tax
Reform Act.

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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 193 / Tuesday, October 6, 2015 / Notices
II. Method of Collection
The information will be collected on
forms submitted electronically or by
mail.
III. Data
OMB Control Number: 0648–0041.
Form Numbers: NOAA Form 34–82,
NOAA Form 88–14.
Type of Review: Regular submission
(extension of a current information
collection).
Affected Public: Business or other forprofit organizations.
Estimated Number of Respondents:
3,000.
Estimated Time per Response: NOAA
Form 34–82, 20 minutes;
NOAA Form 88–14, 3.5 hours for
agreements and 1 hour for certificate.
Estimated Total Annual Burden
Hours: 2,917.
Estimated Total Annual Cost to
Public: $15,320 in recordkeeping/
reporting costs.
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, including through the
use of automated collection techniques
or other forms of information
technology.
Comments submitted in response to
this notice will be summarized and/or
included in the request for OMB
approval of this information collection;
they also will become a matter of public
record.
Dated: September 30, 2015.
Sarah Brabson,
NOAA PRA Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 2015–25331 Filed 10–5–15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–22–P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Patent and Trademark Office
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[Docket No. PTO–P–2015–0049]

Change in Practice Regarding
Correction of Foreign Priority Claims
United States Patent and
Trademark Office, Commerce.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:

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The American Inventors
Protection Act of 1999 (AIPA) provided
for publication of patent applications at
eighteen months from the earliest filing
date for which a benefit is claimed.
Thus, the patent laws and regulations
require that foreign priority or domestic
benefit claims, specifying the
application number, country (or
intellectual property authority), and
filing date of any foreign application for
which priority is claimed and the
application number of any domestic
application for which benefit is claimed,
be submitted in a timely manner to
allow for publication at eighteen months
from the earliest filing date for which a
benefit is claimed. It has been United
States Patent and Trademark Office
(USPTO) practice to require that any
correction of the application number in
a domestic benefit claim after the time
period for filing a priority or benefit
claim be via a petition to accept an
unintentionally delayed benefit claim,
but to permit correction of the
application number in a foreign priority
claim after the time period for filing a
priority or benefit claim without such a
petition. This dissimilar treatment of the
correction of foreign priority claims and
domestic benefit claims results in the
publication of a corrected patent
application publication reflecting the
accurate domestic benefit claim
information whenever an applicant
corrects the application number in a
domestic benefit claim in a pending
application, but not whenever an
applicant corrects the application
number of the foreign application in a
foreign priority claim. The rationale for
the practice of permitting correction of
the application number in a foreign
priority claim without a petition was
because the filing date of a prior foreign
patent application did not affect the
effective prior art date of a U.S. patent
application publication and because the
USPTO schedules publication of an
application with the filing date
provided by applicant in a foreign
priority claim. The Leahy-Smith
America Invents Act (AIA), however,
now provides that the filing date of an
earlier foreign patent application may
now be the effective prior art date for
subject matter disclosed in a U.S. patent
or a U.S. patent application publication.
Therefore, U.S. patent application
publications should reflect accurate
foreign priority information to minimize
the burden on examiners and members
of the public in assessing the effective
prior art date for subject matter
disclosed in such U.S. patent
application publications. The USPTO
will thus now require that any

SUMMARY:

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60367

correction of the identification of the
foreign application (by application
number, country (or intellectual
property authority), and filing date) in a
foreign priority claim after the time
period for filing a priority or benefit
claim be via a petition to accept an
unintentionally delayed priority claim,
and once the petition is granted in a
pending application, will now publish a
corrected patent application publication
reflecting the accurate foreign priority
claim information. Requiring a petition
and publishing a corrected patent
application publication whenever an
applicant corrects the application
number in a foreign priority claim or a
domestic benefit claim will provide for
common treatment of the correction of
the identification of a foreign or
domestic application in a priority or
benefit claim. The publication of a
corrected patent application publication
by the USPTO will result in corrected
patent application publications with
accurate foreign priority information
which will benefit examiners,
applicants and members of the public in
assessing the effective prior art date for
subject matter disclosed in a U.S. patent
application publication.
DATES: Effective Date: The change in
this notice takes effect on November 5,
2015. Any corrections to the foreign
application number in a foreign priority
claim that were previously accepted are
not affected by this change in practice.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Eugenia A. Jones, Senior Legal Advisor,
by telephone at (571) 272–7727, or Erin
M. Harriman, Legal Advisor, by
telephone (571) 272–7747, Office of
Patent Legal Administration, Office of
the Deputy Commissioner for Patent
Examination Policy, or by mail
addressed to: Mail Stop Comments—
Patents, Commissioner for Patents, P.O.
Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313–1450,
marked to the attention of Eugenia A.
Jones.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background: In view of the AIPA,
foreign priority or domestic benefit
claims must be submitted in a timely
manner to allow for publication of
patent applications at eighteen months
from the earliest filing date for which a
benefit is claimed. See 35 U.S.C. 122(b).
The requirements for making a domestic
benefit claim are set forth in 37 CFR
1.78 and the requirements for making a
foreign priority claim are set forth in 37
CFR 1.55. As provided in 37 CFR 1.55
and 1.78, the claim for priority or
benefit must be filed within the later of
four months from the actual filing date
of the application or sixteen months
from the filing date of the prior

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