[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 166 (Monday, August 27, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45012-45014]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-21541]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

United States Patent and Trademark Office

[Docket No. 010126025-1025-01]
RIN 0651-AB34


Notice of Request for Comments on Development of a Plan To Remove 
the Patent and Trademark Classified Paper Files From the Public Search 
Facilities

AGENCY: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of request for public comments.

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SUMMARY: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) requests 
public comment on issues associated with the development of a plan to 
remove the patent and trademark classified paper files from the USPTO's 
public search libraries and replace them with electronic records. These 
public search facilities are currently located in Crystal City, 
Arlington, Virginia. Interested members of the public are invited to 
present comments on the appropriate scope for and contents of this 
plan, including the topics outlined in the supplementary information 
section of this notice.

DATES: Comments will be accepted by the USPTO until September 26, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Those interested in presenting written comments on the 
topics presented in the supplementary information, or any related 
topics, may mail their comments to the Under Secretary of Commerce for 
Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and 
Trademark Office, Washington, D.C. 20231, marked to the attention of 
Ronald Hack, Acting Chief Information Officer, or send them by 
facsimile transmission to (703) 308-7792.
    Parties are encouraged to provide their comments in machine-
readable format and send them over the Internet as electronic mail 
messages to [email protected]. Machine-readable submissions should 
be provided as unformatted text (e.g., ASCII or plain text), or as 
formatted text in one of the following file formats: Microsoft Word 
(Macintosh, DOS or Windows versions) or WordPerfect (Macintosh, DOS or 
Windows versions). Machine-readable submissions may be provided on a 
3\1/2\-inch floppy disk formatted for use in either a Macintosh or 
MSDOS-based computer, mailed to the Under Secretary of Commerce for 
Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and 
Trademark Office, Washington, DC 20231, marked to the attention of 
Ronald Hack, Acting Chief Information Officer.
    All comments should include the following information:
     Name and affiliation of the individual responding;
     An indication of whether comments offered represent views 
of the respondent's organization or are the respondent's personal 
views; and
     If applicable, information on the respondent's 
organization, including the type of organization (e.g., business, trade 
group, university, non-profit organization).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
     Ronald Hack by telephone at (703) 305-9095, by facsimile 
at (703) 308-7792, by electronic mail at [email protected];
     Martha Sneed by telephone at (703) 308-5558, by facsimile 
at (703) 306-2654, by electronic mail at [email protected]; or

[[Page 45013]]

     by mail addressed to the Under Secretary of Commerce for 
Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and 
Trademark Office, Washington, DC 20231, marked to the attention of 
Ronald Hack, Acting Chief Information Officer.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    The American Inventors Protection Act of 1999, Title IV, Section 
4804(d)(1) (the ``Act''), amended Section 11(a) of title 35, United 
States Code, to provide that the Under Secretary of Commerce for 
Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO may, for public use, 
maintain ``paper, microform, or electronic'' (emphasis supplied) 
collections of patents and trademark registrations. The Act further 
provides, in Section 4804(d)(2), that the Director of the USPTO shall 
not:

cease to maintain, for use by the public, paper or microform 
collections of United States patents, foreign patent documents, and 
United States trademark registrations, except pursuant to notice and 
opportunity for public comment and except that the Director shall 
first submit a report to the Committees on the Judiciary of the 
Senate and the House of Representatives detailing such plan, 
including a description of the mechanisms in place to ensure the 
integrity of such collections and the data contained therein, as 
well as to ensure prompt public access to the most current available 
information, and certifying that the implementation of such plan 
will not negatively impact the public.

    For a number of years, the USPTO has been engaged in a program to 
automate access to patents and to trademark registrations. The agency 
currently provides electronic access to patent and trademark 
information in two ways. First, the agency provides search terminals 
for public use in the three Patent and Trademark Public Search 
Facilities that are currently housed in the South Tower, Crystal Plaza 
3-4, and Crystal Mall 1 buildings at the agency's offices in Crystal 
City, Arlington, Virginia. Second, the USPTO provides access to patent 
and trademark information on its World Wide Web (Web) site.
    Approximately 76 public search terminals provide access to patent 
and trademark information by means of computer software programs that 
facilitate the search process. Some of the electronic data available 
through these terminals are:
     Public EAST & WEST Systems: the full text of over 2.5 
million U.S. patents issued since January 1971; the full images of over 
6.5 million U.S. patents issued since 1790 and over 14.5 million 
foreign patents; English translations of 5.1 million Japanese patent 
abstracts; English translations of 3.1 million European patent 
abstracts; and full text and images of all U.S. patent applications 
published since March 15, 2001; and
     X-Search System: text and image of over 2.7 million 
trademark applications and registrations (including active, canceled, 
expired, and abandoned).
    During fiscal year 2000, the average number of unique public users 
who logged on to the WEST search system each month was 472 and the 
average number of search sessions initiated per month by these users 
was 7,173.
    In addition to the terminals accessing the databases listed above, 
the public is provided additional workstations in the public search 
facilities for accessing the electronic search tools listed below:
     Patents ASSIST: Full Text of Patent Search Tools.
     Patents BIB: Selected Bibliographic Information from U.S. 
Patents Issued 1969 to Present.
     Patents CLASS: Current Classifications of U.S. Patents 
Issued 1790 to Present.
     USAPat: Facsimile Images of United States Patents.
     Trademarks REGISTERED: Bibliographic Information from 
Registered U.S. Trademarks.
     USAMark: Facsimile Images of United States Trademark 
Registrations.
    On the USPTO Web site, the public can access considerable patent 
and trademark information. This information includes:
     Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS): searchable 
database including the full text and clipped images of all registered 
trademarks.
     U.S. patents issued from 1790 through 1975--searchable by 
patent number and current U.S. patent classification; and
     U.S. patents issued from 1976 to the most recent issue 
week--searchable by full-text fields that now include current U.S. 
classification data.
     Full text and images of all U.S. patent applications 
published since March 15, 2001.
    In November 2000, the public accessed an average of 970,000 pages 
of patent and trademark information (i.e., issued patents and 
registered trademarks) each day through the USPTO's Web site. As a 
result of significant investment in these public search tools, and the 
significant use of them, the USPTO intends to submit a plan to the 
107th Congress to eliminate the patent and trademark classified paper 
collections from the Trademark Public Search Facility located in the 
South Tower Building, 2900 Crystal Drive, and the Patent Public Search 
Facility located in the Crystal Plaza 3-4 Building, 2021 South Clark 
Place. Elimination of these paper files is consistent with the USPTO's 
goals, strategic information technology plans, and the agency's 
operational practices.
    The USPTO has invested and continues to invest a substantial 
portion of its fee income in the maintenance of patent and trademark 
electronic databases and the development and enhancement of software 
search vehicles. As a result, trademark examining attorneys rely solely 
on electronic records for examining and approving marks for Federal 
registration. In accordance with patent examiners' increasing reliance 
on automated searching, management and the Patent Office Professional 
Association, which represents patent examiners, have agreed to begin 
phased elimination of paper copies of patents from examiner search 
files later this fiscal year. It is anticipated that by the time the 
agency completes its relocation and consolidation at the Carlyle campus 
in Alexandria, Virginia, in 2004, a substantial portion of the patent 
examiner paper search files will have been eliminated.
    The USPTO's current planning approach to the dissemination of 
patent and trademark information is to continue enhancing its 
electronic databases that capture the content of patents and 
trademarks, and to expand public access beyond its Crystal City 
location. The agency intends to formalize a plan to eliminate the paper 
collections of patents and trademark registrations and is providing the 
public with an opportunity to comment on the appropriate scope and 
contents of the plan that the USPTO is required to submit to the 
Committees on the Judiciary of the Senate and House of Representatives.

II. Issues for Public Comment

    Any interested member of the public is invited to provide comments 
on any topic related to development of a plan to eliminate the patent 
and trademark paper classified collections and replace them with 
electronic records. Issues that the USPTO has identified for 
consideration thus far, upon which the agency is particularly 
interested in obtaining public comment, include the following:
    A. Measures required to ensure the integrity of electronic records.
    B. Comparable functionality for searching and retrieving 
information from electronic records.
    C. Re-classifications of the patent electronic file.

[[Page 45014]]

    D. Paper Disposition.
    An important corollary issue for public comment relates to the 
final disposition of the paper collections. The USPTO intends to 
consider expressions of interest from the public and private sector 
regarding third-party interest in maintaining the paper collections. 
The USPTO particularly seeks comment on the following paper disposition 
options. Any transfer of Federal records would be made only with the 
written authorization of the National Archives and Records 
Administration (NARA).
    D.1  Offer the collections to the NARA or some other government 
agency (Federal or state).
    D.2  Transfer ownership of the collections to an educational or 
not-for-profit entity that agrees to keep them current and to make them 
available to the public (no exchange of money).
    D.3  Offer the collections for sale.
    D.4  If necessary for disposition, divide the collections and 
permit the transfer/sale of different segments to different 
organizations/businesses.

    Dated: May 24, 2001.
Nicholas P. Godici,
Acting Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Acting 
Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. 01-21541 Filed 8-24-01; 8:45 am]
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