Hyatt v. Office of Management and Budget, No. 20-15590 (9th Cir. 2021)
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The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of OMB in an action brought by plaintiff and AAET, contending that patent applicants should not have to comply with certain U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) rules because the USPTO is violating the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA). Plaintiff and AAET argue that patent applicants need not follow the rules because the USPTO is violating the PRA by failing to obtain OMB approval and a control number each time the USPTO makes a request to an applicant during the back-and-forth communications process concerning a particular patent. The OMB rejected this argument and concluded that the rules are not subject to the PRA.
The panel held that the challenged rules do not impose "collections of information" subject to the PRA's procedural requirements. Rather, the PRA and the regulations expressly exclude from coverage individualized communications just like those between a patent examiner and a patent applicant. Furthermore, even if they impose "collections," most of the rules are exempted from the PRA under Exemption 6.
Court Description: Paperwork Reduction Act. The panel affirmed the district court’s summary judgment in favor of the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) in an action challenging the OMB’s determination that certain rules and regulations were not subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act (“PRA”). Plaintiffs contended that patent applicants should not have to comply with certain U.S. Patent & Trademark Office rules because they violated the PRA. The PRA requires federal agencies engaged in “collection of information” to first submit them to the OMB for approval and assignment of a control number. Patent applicants and patent examiners are guided by Patent Office regulations and the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure, which impose formatting, timing, and other procedural guidelines (the “Rules”). Plaintiffs argued that the Rules imposed “collections of information” within the meaning of PRA. Plaintiffs requested that the OMB review certain Patent Office rules * The Honorable M. Douglas Harpool, United States District Judge for the Western District of Missouri, sitting by designation. HYATT V. OMB 3 because they required OMB approval and control numbers, and OMB denied their applications. The panel held that the challenged Rules did not impose “collections of information” subject to the PRA’s procedural requirements. The panel agreed with the government that the Rules did not impose the kinds of generalized solicitations of information that the PRA and its regulations were intended to cover, and they were not subject to PRA’s approval and control number requirements. The panel held that even if some of the Rules imposed “collections,” the PRA’s procedural requirements would still not apply to virtually any of the Rules because, under Exemption 6, the definition of “information” generally excluded “[a] request for facts of opinions addressed to a single person.” 5 C.F.R. § 13203(h)(6).
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