0081 CWS March Final

JUSTIFICATION FOR NONMATERIAL/NONSUBSTANTIVE CHANGE

United States Patent and Trademark Office

La School Clinic Certification Program

OMB CONTROL NUMBER 0651-0081

(March 2017)

Background

The Law School Clinic Certification Program allows students enrolled in a participating law school’s clinic to practice patent or trademark law before the USPTO under the direct supervision of a faculty clinic supervisor. Each clinic provides legal services on a pro bono basis for clients who qualify for assistance from the law school’s clinic. By drafting, filing, and prosecuting patent and trademark applications, students gain valuable experience that would otherwise be unavailable to them while in law school. The program also facilitates the provision of pro bono services to trademark and patent applicants who lack the financial resources necessary for traditional legal representation.

The Office of Enrollment and Discipline (“OED”) Director uses the information in this collection to determine whether the applicants are of good moral character and reputation as well as whether said applicants have the necessary legal, scientific, and technical qualifications required for admittance to the Law School Clinic Certification Program. Information collected from applications submitted by law schools for admission into the program is used to evaluate those law schools and determine whether they are qualified to be admitted as member law schools into the Law School Clinic Certification Program. These qualifications are reevaluated through the law schools’ provision of reports as well as their completion of the required biennial reapplication process.

Summary of Changes

The USPTO is proposing to change the frequency of collection for a particular IC line (Quarterly Report Required of Law School Clinics). The frequency will decrease from quarterly to biannually. The name of the IC line will change to “Biannual Report Required of Law School Clinics.” USPTO is making this change in response to comments received from the law schools that are part of the program.   

The decrease of 100 responses, 100 burden hours and $138.00 in non-hourly costs is to count for the decrease in frequency of collection of the aforementioned IC line.

Changes in Burden

The decrease in frequency of collection will result in the following burden changes for this information collection:

Burden Type	Currently approved	Proposed change	New estimates
Responses	745	-100	645
Hours	1,185	-100	1,085
Annual (non-hour) costs	$1,058.00	-$138.00	$920.00

This collection does not include any annual (non-hour) costs, and there are no annual (non-hour) costs associated with the proposed changes to this collection.

The revised 0651-0058 total burden is as follows:

• 645 respondents

• 1,085 burden hours

• $920.00 non-hourly cost