Request for Comments on the National Strategy for Expanding American Innovation
| Published date | 23 December 2020 |
| Citation | 85 FR 83906 |
| Record Number | 2020-28298 |
| Section | Notices |
| Court | Patent And Trademark Office |
83906
Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 247 / Wednesday, December 23, 2020 / Notices
T
ABLE
3—F
ILING
F
EES
—Continued
Item No. Item Responses
(year) Filing fee
($)
Total non-hour
respondent
cost burden
($/hour)
(a) (b) (a) × (b) = (c)
10 Petition to the Director of the Office of Enrollment and Discipline under 37
CFR 11.2(c). 7 420 2,940
11 Review of Decision of the Director of Enrollment and Discipline Under 37
CFR 11.2(d). 1 420 420
Totals ............................................................................................................................ 5,901 ........................ 865,958
Postage costs are also associated with
this information collection. The USPTO
estimates that the average postage cost
for a mailed submission, depending
upon the item sent, will be $0.55. The
USPTO estimates that with 2,450 mailed
submissions, the postage costs in this
information collection will be $1,348.
Additional costs are incurred for new
Patent Bar members who are required to
obtain and submit an Oath or
Affirmation. These items usually require
the services of a public notary. The cost
of a notarized document is dependent
upon local rules, but is estimated by
USPTO to average $10. The cost of 840
Oaths is estimated to be $8,400.
Therefore, the USPTO estimates that
the total annual (non-hour) cost burden
for this information collection, in the
form of filing fees, postage, and notary
fees is $875,706.
Respondent’s Obligation: Required to
obtain or retain benefits.
IV. Request for Comments
The USPTO is soliciting public
comments to:
(a) Evaluate whether the proposed
collection of information is necessary
for the proper performance of the
functions of the Agency, including
whether the information will have
practical utility;
(b) Evaluate the accuracy of the
Agency’s estimate of the burden of the
proposed collection of information,
including the validity of the
methodology and assumptions used;
(c) Enhance the quality, utility, and
clarity of the information to be
collected; and
(d) Minimize the burden of the
collection of information on those who
are to respond, including through the
use of appropriate automated,
electronic, mechanical, or other
technological collection techniques or
other forms of information technology,
e.g., permitting electronic submission of
responses.
All comments submitted in response
to this notice are a matter of public
record. USPTO will include or
summarize each comment in the request
to OMB to approve this information
collection. Before including an address,
phone number, email address, or other
personal identifying information in a
comment, be aware that the entire
comment—including personal
identifying information—may be made
publicly available at any time. While
you may ask in your comment to
withhold personal identifying
information from public view, USPTO
cannot guarantee that it will be able to
do so.
Kimberly Hardy,
Information Collections Officer, Office of the
Chief Administrative Officer, United States
Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. 2020–28412 Filed 12–22–20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–16–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Patent and Trademark Office
[Docket No. PTO–P–2020–0057]
Request for Comments on the National
Strategy for Expanding American
Innovation
AGENCY
: United States Patent and
Trademark Office, Department of
Commerce.
ACTION
: Request for comments.
SUMMARY
: On September 14, 2020, the
United States Patent and Trademark
Office (USPTO) hosted the inaugural
meeting of the National Council for
Expanding American Innovation
(NCEAI). The NCEAI consists of
distinguished leaders from industry,
academia, government, and nonprofit
organizations. It was organized as an
outgrowth of the Study of
Underrepresented Classes Chasing
Engineering and Science Success Act of
2018, which charged the USPTO with
preparing a report concerning patenting
and entrepreneurship activities among
women, minorities, and veterans. The
goal of the NCEAI is to help the USPTO
develop a national strategy to build a
more demographically, geographically,
and economically inclusive innovation
ecosystem. To assist in the development
of this strategy, the USPTO is seeking
input from the public.
DATES
: Comment Deadline: To be
ensured of consideration, written
comments must be received by February
8, 2021.
ADDRESSES
: Comments must be
submitted through the Federal
eRulemaking Portal at
www.regulations.gov. To submit
comments via the portal, enter docket
number PTO–P–2020–0057 on the
homepage and click ‘‘search.’’ The site
will provide a search results page listing
all documents associated with this
docket. Find a reference to this notice
and click on the ‘‘Comment Now!’’ icon,
complete the required fields, and enter
or attach your comments. Attachments
to electronic comments will be accepted
in ADOBE
®
portable document format
or MICROSOFT WORD
®
format.
Because written comments and
testimony will be made available for
public inspection, information that a
respondent does not desire to be made
public, such as a phone number, should
not be included in the testimony or
written comments.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
: For
questions or comments regarding this
notice, please send your inquiries to
innovationcomment@uspto.gov, or
telephone Janine Scianna, Office of
Governmental Affairs, at 571–272–0502.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
: To
maintain the United States’ economic
competitiveness on the world stage, it is
imperative for our nation to encourage
individuals from all backgrounds and
areas of the country to participate in the
innovation ecosystem, particularly in
obtaining intellectual property rights.
However, research reveals patterns of
disparity in innovation participation
rates for women, people of color,
veterans, economically disadvantaged
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Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 247 / Wednesday, December 23, 2020 / Notices
people, and geographically
underrepresented people. This disparity
negatively affects the development of
local communities as well as the social
and economic well-being of the country
at large. To increase participation in
innovation by individuals from
traditionally underrepresented groups,
it is critically important to equip all
inventors and prospective inventors,
regardless of their demographic,
geographic, or economic backgrounds,
with information, resources, supportive
communities, and opportunities. Our
economy will benefit from a wealth of
previously untapped talent when we, as
a nation, successfully build an
innovation community that more
closely reflects the underlying diversity
of our citizens.
In its SUCCESS Act report to
Congress, the USPTO announced its
plan to create a national strategy to
promote and increase participation by
underrepresented groups in inventing
and innovation. The NCEAI consists of
leaders from every corner of the
innovation ecosystem—industry,
academia, government, and nonprofit
organizations. NCEAI representatives
will provide input to help the USPTO
develop its national strategy to expand
innovation demographically,
geographically, and economically. This
strategy will be organized by a broad
conceptual framework that considers
the entire pathway along which interest
and expertise in innovation is cultivated
in an individual. One element of this
framework will focus on ‘‘Creating
Innovators,’’ which will address
expanding access to foundational
exposure and educational opportunities
for students and individuals of all ages
and backgrounds. Another element will
focus on ‘‘Practicing Innovation,’’ which
will address the empowerment of all
innovative individuals by providing
adequate resources and supportive work
environments to turn their ideas into
protectable inventions. A third element
will focus on ‘‘Realizing Innovation,’’
which will address the assurance that
all innovators can successfully
commercialize their products and
services.
Issues for Comment: The USPTO
seeks comments from the public that
will be used to help draft a national
strategy to create opportunities that will
expand our innovation ecosystem to
include all individuals, including those
from underrepresented socioeconomic,
geographic, and demographic groups.
The questions below are grouped
according to the categories within the
broad conceptual framework outlined
above for the national strategy. The
USPTO welcomes answers to these
questions, as well as any additional
comments, from the public:
I. General
1. Inventors and entrepreneurs come
from all walks of life and are not always
employed by a large corporate or
educational institution. How can people
and organizations in the innovation
ecosystem better support them?
2. Women and some minorities have
not participated proportionally in the
patenting of inventions. What barriers to
innovation inclusion are specific to
underrepresented groups? What
supporting role should government
organizations play in helping
underrepresented groups overcome
these barriers?
3. Mentoring and networking have
been shown to be effective tools in
supporting and encouraging
underrepresented inventors and
entrepreneurs. How can organizations
and intellectual property practitioners
in the innovation ecosystem better
connect underrepresented innovators to
each other and to mentors, both
internally and across organizations?
4. Developing organizational metrics
to document the effectiveness of
diversity and inclusion initiatives is
necessary to track outcomes of action
plans and initiatives. What are best
practices that organizations can
internally employ to measure their own
progress, particularly in the area of
intellectual property protection?
5. Measuring national progress in
realizing greater inclusion and diversity
in invention, entrepreneurship, and
intellectual property may take years,
and it will be critical to identify
complementary short- and long-term
metrics that are precursors to and
indicators of expanding innovation.
What are some specific, meaningful, and
relevant measures that can be used to:
a. Support year-over-year performance
of action plans and initiatives in the
short-term?
b. Demonstrate the long-term creation
of diversity and inclusion in the
innovation ecosystem while
complementing short-term performance
metrics?
6. Invention, entrepreneurship, and
intellectual property protection have
been shown to be concentrated in
certain areas of the country and among
individuals from higher socioeconomic
groups. What new or existing channels
could be created or utilized to more
effectively deliver information and
resources to prospective innovators
from all demographic, geographic, and
economic backgrounds?
II. Creating Innovators—Helping To
Prepare People To Obtain the Skills
and Develop the Interests Necessary To
Become Innovators, Problem Solvers,
and Entrepreneurs
7. Research has shown that
‘‘invention education’’—the infusion of
transdisciplinary education in problem
identification and problem solving—is
critical to developing innovation skills
in learners. How can educational
institutions at all levels (pre-
kindergarten through post-graduate)
successfully infuse concepts of
invention, entrepreneurship, and
intellectual property education into
curricula?
8. To supplement formal education,
how can community institutions,
particularly in rural and economically
disadvantaged areas, build awareness of,
and skills and interests in, invention,
entrepreneurship, and intellectual
property among students of all ages?
9. More can be done to help teachers,
even those with a formal science,
technology, engineering, or mathematics
(STEM) background, incorporate
concepts of innovation into their
teaching methods. What new or existing
professional development opportunities,
resources, and programs could train
teachers to incorporate invention
education concepts into their
instruction? How could these efforts be
leveraged and scaled so that similar
resources and opportunities are
accessible to all teachers?
III. Practicing Innovation—Harnessing
Skills and Interests to the Act of
Innovation
10. Recent progress in developing
STEM graduates from underrepresented
groups has been documented. How can
similar rates of invention and
entrepreneurship be attained? How can
organizations best recruit and retain
innovators from diverse backgrounds?
11. Inventors thrive when cultural
and institutional barriers within
workplaces are minimized or removed.
What are examples of these barriers, and
how can organizations remove them to
create an inclusive, innovative
workplace culture?
12. Access to information and
resources is pivotal for the development
of individual inventors and small
businesses. How can the nation better
support individual inventors and small
businesses with resources so they can
successfully translate their skills and
creativity into the acts of invention,
intellectual property protection, and
entrepreneurship?
13. Another important objective is
increasing diversity in the entire
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Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 247 / Wednesday, December 23, 2020 / Notices
intellectual property field. What are
ways of promoting diversity in the corps
of intellectual property attorneys and
agents who represent innovators?
IV. Realizing Innovation—Reaping the
Personal and Societal Benefits of
Innovation
14. Financial support is a critical
element in translating an innovation
into commercial success. What
organizations, programs, or other efforts
help promote access to capital to an
expanded group of inventors and
entrepreneurs—demographically,
geographically, and economically?
15. Successfully commercializing an
inventive product or concept requires
in-depth knowledge about production
processes, market forces, and other
pertinent information. What types of
mentoring initiatives could be
implemented or expanded to help
experienced entrepreneurs impart this
specialized knowledge to diverse and
novice inventors?
16. Formalized partnerships like tech
transfer offices/conferences,
accelerators, and incubators can help
streamline commercialization objectives
such as product development, licensing,
and distribution. What can be done to
make these partnerships more accessible
and effective at supporting all inventors
and entrepreneurs?
V. Other
17. Please provide any other
comments that you feel should be
considered as part of, and that are
directly related to, the development of
a national strategy to expand the
innovation ecosystem demographically,
geographically, and economically.
Andrei Iancu,
Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual
Property and Director of the United States
Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. 2020–28298 Filed 12–22–20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–16–P
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Department of the Army
Draft Environmental Impact Statement
Addressing Heat and Electrical
Upgrades at Fort Wainwright, Alaska
AGENCY
: Department of the Army, DOD.
ACTION
: Amended Notice of Availability.
SUMMARY
: The Department of the Army
(Army) is issuing this Amended Notice
of Availability, updating the original
notice published on October 9, 2020
(Federal Register, Vol. 85, No. 197,
64133) of the continuing availability of
the Draft Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS) as part of the
environmental planning process to
address heat and electrical upgrades at
Fort Wainwright, Alaska. The comment
period for the Draft EIS, originally
scheduled to conclude on December 8,
2020, is being reopened for an
additional 60 days to conclude on
February 22, 2021.
The Army invites public comments
on the Draft EIS during the comment
period that began with the publication
of the NOA in the Federal Register on
October 9, 2020.
DATES
: Comments must be received by
February 22, 2021 to be considered in
the preparation of the Final EIS.
ADDRESSES
: Please submit written
comments to Laura Sample, NEPA
Program Manager at: Directorate of
Public Works, ATTN: IMFW–PWE (L.
Sample), 1046 Marks Road #4500, Fort
Wainwright, AK 99703–4500, email:
usarmy.wainwright.id-pacific.mbx.heu-
eis@mail.mil, or through the project
website: https://home.army.mil/alaska/
index.php/fort-wainwright/NEPA/HEU-
EIS.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
:
Please contact Grant Sattler, Public
Affairs Office, IMPC–FWA–PAO
(Sattler), 1060 Gaffney Road #5900, Fort
Wainwright, AK 99703–5900; telephone
(907) 353–6701; email:
alan.g.sattler.civ@mail.mil.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
: The
current condition of Fort Wainwright’s
heat and power plant requires an
upgrade to provide reliable heat and
electrical infrastructure for the
installation that resolves safety,
resiliency, fiscal, and regulatory
concerns. The Draft EIS evaluates
reasonable alternatives, potential
environmental impacts, and key issues
of concern. A preferred alternative is not
identified at this time. The comment
period is being reopened in response to
requests from commenters. Additional
information can be found within the
original notice published on October 9,
2020 (Federal Register, Vol. 85, No. 197,
64133). Federal, state, and local
agencies; Alaska Natives; Native
Americans; Native American
organizations and tribes; private
organizations; and the public are invited
to continue being involved in this EIS
process by providing written comments.
An electronic copy of the Draft EIS is
available online at: https://
home.army.mil/alaska/index.php/fort-
wainwright/NEPA/HEU-EIS. Copies of
the Draft EIS will be available for review
at the Noel Wien Library, 1215 Cowles
Street, Fairbanks, AK 99701; the Post
Library, Building 3700, Santiago
Avenue, Fort Wainwright, AK 99703;
and the Tri-Valley Community Library,
400 Suntrana Road, Healy, AK 99743, if
these facilities are open. Copies of the
Draft EIS are also available by
submitting a request to: see
ADDRESSES
.
Written comments must be sent by
February 22, 2021. The Army will
consider all comments received on the
Draft EIS when preparing the Final EIS.
As with the Draft EIS, the Army will
announce the availability of the Final
EIS.
James W. Satterwhite Jr.,
Alternate, Army Federal Register Liaison
Officer.
[FR Doc. 2020–28322 Filed 12–22–20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 5061–AP–P
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Office of the Secretary
[Transmittal No. 21–0A]
Arms Sales Notification
AGENCY
: Defense Security Cooperation
Agency, Department of Defense (DoD).
ACTION
: Arms sales notice.
SUMMARY
: The Department of Defense is
publishing the unclassified text of an
arms sales notification.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
:
Karma Job at karma.d.job.civ@mail.mil
or (703) 697–8976.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
: This
36(b)(5)(C) arms sales notification is
published to fulfill the requirements of
section 155 of Public Law 104–164
dated July 21, 1996. The following is a
copy of a letter to the Speaker of the
House of Representatives, Transmittal
21–0A with attached Policy
Justification.
Dated: December 17, 2020.
Aaron T. Siegel,
Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison
Officer, Department of Defense.
BILLING CODE 5001–06–P
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