[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 94 (Tuesday, May 16, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28309-28310]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-7424]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

 Patent and Trademark Office

[Docket No.: PTO-P-2006-0026]


Request for Comments on Patents Search Templates

AGENCY: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Commerce.

ACTION: Request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has 
developed and published patent search templates. Search templates 
define the field of search, search tools, and search methodologies that 
should be considered each time a patent application is examined in a 
particular classification. The USPTO is inviting public comment on the 
search templates.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent by electronic mail message over the 
Internet addressed to [email protected]. Comments may also 
be submitted by mail addressed to: Mail Stop Patents Search Template 
Comments, Commissioner for Patents, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 
22313-1450. Although comments may be submitted by mail, the USPTO 
prefers to receive comments via the Internet.
    The comments will be available for public inspection via the 
USPTO's Internet Web site (address: http://www.uspto.gov). Because 
comments will be made available for public inspection, information that 
is not desired to be made public, such as an address or phone number, 
should not be included in the comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kristin Vajs, Manager, Scientific and 
Technical Information Center (STIC), Office of the Deputy Commissioner 
for Patent Resources and Planning, by telephone at (571) 272-3512.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Currently, patent applications filed in the 
USPTO, and the resulting United States patent application publications 
and United States patents, are classified into approximately 600 
classes based upon technology and subject matter of the claimed 
invention. A patent examiner is responsible for reviewing prior patent 
documents, both domestic and foreign, and other printed literature 
related to an application's subject matter during the examination 
process. This review, called the search, is performed by consulting the 
appropriate classes, and their respective subclasses, in the United 
States classification system, other patent document databases, and any 
other printed media (also known as ``non-patent literature'' or 
``NPL''), which might disclose the invention disclosed/claimed in a 
patent application under examination.
    In determining the appropriate field of search for an invention, 
the examiner must consider three sources of information: (1) Domestic 
patent documents; (2) foreign patent documents; and (3) NPL. The 
current requirements for conducting that search are set forth in 
section 904.02 of the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP). See 
MPEP Sec.  904.02 (8th ed. 2001) (Rev. 3, August 2005). An examiner may 
not eliminate any of these resources from consideration unless the 
examiner can justify to a reasonable certainty that no more pertinent 
references will be found in a further search. See MPEP Sec.  904.02. 
Although the general guidance set forth in the

[[Page 28310]]

MPEP is accurate, it provides little information on what resources 
should be searched, and which of the available search tools or 
methodologies, for a particular field of subject matter should be 
consulted. Detailed guidance on the choice and use of specific search 
tools were left to each Technology Center. See MPEP Sec.  904.02(b)).
    The USPTO has published ``search templates'' for each of the 
classes found in the USPTO's Manual of Classification. A search 
template will define the search field and resource areas of general 
subject matter, classes/subclasses, patent documents (both domestic and 
foreign) and NPL that an examiner should consider each time a patent 
application is examined in a particular classification. Additionally, 
the search template will indicate what search tools or methodologies 
should be considered when performing the search. These search templates 
are based upon input from patent examiners and other searchers at the 
USPTO and represent an attempt to capture their institutional knowledge 
of what are the most relevant prior art searches for determining the 
patentability of subject matter in the area of technology.
    In an effort to ensure that each classification has an 
appropriately structured field of search and search strategy, the USPTO 
has published the search templates on the USPTO's Internet Web site at 
http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/searchtemplates/. The USPTO is 
publishing this request for comments to gather public feedback on the 
adequacy and completeness of the search templates.

    Dated: May 10, 2006.
John Doll,
Commissioner for Patents.
[FR Doc. E6-7424 Filed 5-15-06; 8:45 am]
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