United States Patent and Trademark Office OG Notices: 25 December 2001

                       Patent Cooperation Treaty Update

   The International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property
Organization has informed the United States Patent and Trademark
Office, that due to changes in the exchange rate of the U.S. dollar
with regard to the Swiss franc, the dollar amount of certain fees for
international applications filed in the United States Receiving Office
will be increased, effective January 1, 2002. Due to currency exchange
rates, a new dollar amount was also established for the search fee
required the European Patent Office, with effect from January 1, 2002.

   The amount of these fees will be:
      Basic fee (first 30 pages)                                   $ 407.00
      Supplement per sheet over 30                                   $ 9.00
      Designation fee (per country or region up to 8)               $ 88.00
      Handling fee                                                 $ 146.00
      PCT-EASY reduction                                          $ -125.00
      Search fee required by the European Patent Office (EPO) when acting
as International Searching Authority                               $ 866.00

   The Assembly of the International Patent Cooperation Union (PCT
Union), in a meeting held in Geneva from September 24 to October 3,
2001, decided to reduce the maximum number of designation fees payable
for PCT international applications from 6 to 5. This reduction will
take effect January 1, 2002.

November 26, 2001                                        NICHOLAS P. GODICI
                                                  Acting Under Secretary of
                                     Commerce for Intellectual Property and
                                       Acting Director of the United States
                                                Patent and Trademark Office