Status of Certification Services
   
  On November 28, 1995, the Office published an Official Gazette Notice
entitled "Temporary Suspension of At Cost Services for Orders for
Certified Copies" (1180 OG 121) to advise practitioners and the public
of delays in filling orders for certified copies of PTO documents. This
is an update of actual days to mail for orders filled during the month
of February 1998:

Certified Product                   Goal               Actual
                                                       Calendar
                                                       Days
                                                       to Mail

Patent Application-As-Filed,          7                   6
Expedited
Patent Application-As-Filed,         17                  20
Regular
Patent Related File Wrapper          25                  47*
Patent Copy                          10                   5
Patent Assignments                   10                   9

Trademark Application-As-Filed,       7                   5
Expedited
Trademark Application-As-Filed,      17                  16
Regular
Trademark Related File Wrapper       25                  17
Trademark Assignments                10                  12 
Trademark Registration,               5                   5
Expedited
Trademark Registration, Regular      14                  16

* Includes turnaround times for files on official search and file
reconstruction.

Due to varying availability of media, customers will not be advised when
orders are not delivered within the published goal periods. However,
customers will be advised if any unexpected delay in their order has
been identified. Customers should use the above actual days to mail for
each product as a guide as to when they can expect their orders. In
determining expected delivery times, the day an order is received in the
Office is calculated as "day zero." The next business day is "day one."
   
Delivery of any specific copy will vary based on the availability of
scanned images, microfilm products, and/or file accessibility. On June
10, 1997, the Office published an Official Gazette Notice entitled
"Changes in Practice in Supplying Certified Copies and Filing Receipts"
(1199 OG 39) which advised customers who placed orders for certified
copies of patent applications-as-filed not to request them until the
official filing receipt is received; images and related bibliographic
data are not available to Certification Division until the filing
receipt is generated by the Office of Initial Patent Examination.

Customers are encouraged to fax orders for copies directly to
Certification Division at (703) 308-9759 and to pay by PTO Deposit
Account, MasterCard, or Visa. Information on the status of pending
orders may be obtained by calling (703) 308-9726 or 1 (800) 972-6382
(outside the Washington, DC Metro area), or via E-mail:
certdiv@uspto.gov.

March 4, 1998                                              WESLEY H. GEWEHR
                                              Administrator for Information
                                                              Dissemination