DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Patent and Trademark Office Solicitation of Applications for Membership on Public Advisory Committee for Trademark Affairs AGENCY: Patent and Trademark Office, Commerce. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: The Patent and Trademark Office seeks five members for the Public Advisory Committee for Trademark Affairs. Each member will serve a three-year term. A member must be an organization that is representative of the intellectual property community, e.g., a bar group, an intellectual property organization, a business organization or an academic institution. Interested organizations should respond by a letter that includes the information requested in the Supplementary Information section of this notice. DATES: Submit applications on or before January 29, 1999. ADDRESSES: Mail letters of request to participate in the Public Advisory Committee for Trademark Affairs to The Honorable Q. Todd Dickinson, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Deputy Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks, United States Patent and Trademark Office, Washington, D.C. 20231. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sharon Marsh, Trademark Administrator, by telephone at (703) 308-8910 ext. 45; by fax at (703) 308-9395; or by e-mail to sharon.marsh@uspto.gov. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This Committee is chartered under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463). Its purpose is to advise the Patent and Trademark Office (Office) on ways to increase the Office's efficiency and effectiveness and to provide a continuing flow of insights and perceptions from the private sector to the Office in the areas of domestic and international trademark law. The Office amended the charter of the Committee in 1996 to make the Committee more diverse and more representative of trademark owners, trademark practitioners and the Intellectual Property community as a whole. Accordingly, the Commissioner will select five representative organizations from among intellectual property organizations, bar groups, business-related organizations and academia. The five organizations whose terms will expire on December 31, 1998, are not precluded from responding to this notice. Each organization's letter to the Commissioner should explain the nature, size and characteristics of the organization and what insights and perspective it would bring to the work of the Committee. The members will be selected based on the following criteria: (1) organization's familiarity with the operations of the Patent and Trademark Office relating to trademarks and trademark rules, trademark practices, and the administration of the trademark operations; (2) the organization's experience practicing before the Patent and Trademark Office in trademark matters; and (3) evidence of the organization's interest in trademark practices, such as established committees designed to improve trademark operations, or legal education activities regarding trademark practices. December 22, 1998 Q. TODD DICKINSON Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Deputy Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks