[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 29 (Tuesday, February 12, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6505-6506]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-3276]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Patent and Trademark Office


Disposal of Paper Copies of U.S. Patents Removed From the 
Examiners' Search Rooms

AGENCY: Patent and Trademark Office, Commerce.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is 
considering whether the paper copies of selected subclasses of U.S. 
patents to be removed from the examiners' search rooms should be 
disposed of as wastepaper or donated to a non-profit organization. The 
USPTO is seeking input on whether any non-profit organization is 
interested in acquiring the paper copies of the U.S. patents to be 
removed from the examiners' search rooms.

DATES: Any interested non-profit organization should contact the USPTO 
on or before March 14, 2002 to indicate a desire to acquire paper 
copies of U.S. patents. If such interest is expressed, and the USPTO 
proceeds with donating the paper copies of U.S. patents removed from 
the examiners' search rooms to a non-profit organization, interested 
non-profit organizations will then be required to contact the USPTO 
within thirty days of the date the USPTO's web site is updated to 
include the subclasses in which the organization is interested.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Any interested non-profit organization 
should contact Richard Seidel by facsimile marked ``ATTN EXAMINERS 
SEARCH ROOMS'' at (703) 308-7725. Questions concerning this notice may 
be directed to Richard Seidel by telephone at (703) 306-3431.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The USPTO is in the process of removing 
paper copies of selected subclasses of U.S. patents from the examiners' 
search rooms. The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) 
has determined that paper copies of U.S. patents in the examiners' 
search rooms are temporary records that may be destroyed when no longer 
needed for current USPTO business. Some of the paper copies have 
already been destroyed. The USPTO is considering whether it should: (1) 
Dispose of the paper copies of the selected subclasses of U.S. patents 
removed from the examiners' search rooms as wastepaper; or (2) donate 
the paper copies of the selected subclasses of U.S. patents removed 
from the examiners' search rooms to a non-profit organization. 
Therefore, the USPTO is seeking input on whether any non-profit 
organization is interested in acquiring the paper copies of U.S. 
patents to be removed from the examiners' search rooms (the USPTO is 
not currently aware of any).
    Any donation of paper copies of U.S. patents must comply with the 
NARA regulations for the donation of temporary records which are set 
out in 36 CFR 1228.60. For example, the donee must be a non-profit 
organization and must agree not to sell the U.S. patent copies except 
as wastepaper, the donation must be made without cost to the United 
States Government, and NARA must provide written approval of the 
donation. Thus, even if there is interest by a non-profit organization 
in acquiring the paper copies of U.S. patents removed from the 
examiners' search rooms, the USPTO may still dispose of them as 
wastepaper if the USPTO cannot donate them to the non-

[[Page 6506]]

profit organization in a cost-effective manner or if the USPTO cannot 
obtain written approval for the donation by NARA in a timely manner.
    Since the USPTO is removing the paper copies of U.S. patents from 
the examiners' search rooms on a subclass-by-subclass basis, the USPTO 
is not in a position to accommodate a request by a non-profit 
organization for a complete set of all U.S. patents or even all U.S. 
patents in any particular class. The USPTO is only seeking non-profit 
organizations interested in the selected subclasses for which the paper 
copies of U.S. patents are being removed from the examiners' search 
rooms. In addition, as the USPTO will not be conducting a file 
integrity review of the paper copies of the U.S. patents in a subclass 
as they are being removed from the examiners' search rooms, the USPTO 
cannot assure that the paper copies of U.S. patents available for 
donation are a complete set of U.S. patents even as to the selected 
subclasses.
    If the USPTO proceeds with donating the paper copies of U.S. 
patents removed from the examiners' search rooms to a non-profit 
organization, the USPTO will provide a list of the subclasses for which 
the paper copies of U.S. patents are being removed from the examiners' 
search rooms on the USPTO's Internet web site (www.uspto.gov). The 
USPTO will update this list when additional subclasses are removed from 
the examiners' search rooms.
    The USPTO published a notice seeking public input on a proposal to 
eliminate patent and trademark classified paper files from the public 
search room. See Notice of Request for Comments on Development of a 
Plan to Remove the Patent and Trademark Classified Paper Files from the 
Public Search Room, 66 FR 45012 (Aug. 27, 2001), 1250 Off. Gaz. Pat. 
Office 137 (Sept. 25, 2001). This notice concerns a plan to dispose of 
paper copies of selected subclasses of U.S. patents removed from the 
examiners' search rooms and is not related to the development of a plan 
to eliminate patent and trademark classified paper files from the 
public search room.

    Dated: February 5, 2002.
James E. Rogan,
Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and, Director of 
the Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. 02-3276 Filed 2-11-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-16-P