Status of Office of Public Records Services The Office of Public Records (OPR) processes and fills orders for both certified and uncertified copies of Patent and Trademark Office documents and records assignments and other documents related to title. This is an update of actual processing times during the month of February 2001: Document Services Goal Actual Processing Time Certified Documents Patent Applications-As-Filed, Expedited 7 days 9 days Patent Applications-As-Filed, Regular 17 days 16 days Patent Related File Wrappers 25 days 58 days* Patent Copies 10 days 13 days Patent Assignments 10 days 13 days Trademark Applications-As-Filed, Expedited 7 days 7 days Trademark Applications-As-Filed, Regular 17 days 15 days Trademark Related File Wrappers 25 days 30 days* Trademark Assignments 10 days 13 days Trademark Registrations, Expedited 5 days 9 days Trademark Registrations, Regular 14 days 12 days Uncertified Documents Expedited Patent Copies 1 day 2 days Regular Patent Copies 5 days 11 days Plant Patents 5 days 8 days Patent Assignments 10 days 9 days Patent Related File Wrappers 25 days 31 days* Expedited Trademark Copies 1 day 6 days Regular Trademark Copies 5 days 7 days Trademark Assignments 10 days 17 days Trademark Related File Wrappers 25 days 27 days* *Includes turnaround times for files on Official Search and File Reconstruction. During the month of April 2001, a total of 17,618 public orders (29,056 copies) were filled and closed, or 3,821 orders more (9,500 copies less) than the FY-01 planning number of 13,797 orders (38,556 copies) to be closed for this month. The office's Order Entry Management System (OEMS) was updated on March 11, 2001, to accept orders for new products associated with the publication of patent applications. The new software still has a number of technical problems that are being analyzed and resolved. As a result, there have been, and will continue to be, delays in processing and filling those orders submitted after Thursday, March 8, 2001. Please do not submit "follow-up" or duplicate copies of orders. Customers should use the above actual processing time for each product as a guide as to when they can expect their orders to be completed. In cases where an urgent deadline is approaching, contact OPR Customer Service at (703) 308-9726 or 1(800) 972-6382 for assistance with a particular order. Customers are encouraged to fax orders for copies directly to the Document Services Division at (703) 308-9759 and to pay by PTO Deposit Account, MasterCard, Visa, American Express or Discover. Copy orders also may be placed through the Internet by accessing the PTO home page at www.uspto.gov and selecting the "Order Copies" option. 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: dsd@uspto.gov. Assignment Services The Assignment Division is currently mailing recordation notices for documents received in the Office of Public Records on February 16, 2001. The cycle time to process, record, and mail notices is 69 calendar days. May 7, 2001 PATRICK ROWE, Director Office of Public Records