United States Patent and Trademark Office OG Notices: 12 March 2002
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Patent and Trademark Office
Disposal of Paper Copies of
U.S. Patents Removed From the
Examiners' Search Rooms
AGENCY: Patent and Trademark Office, Commerce.
ACTION: Notice.
SUMMARY: The United States Patent and Trademark Office
(USPTO) is considering whether the paper copies of selected subclasses
of U.S. patents to be removed from the examiners' search rooms should
be disposed of as wastepaper or donated to a non-profit organization.
The USPTO is seeking input on whether any non-profit organization is
interested in acquiring the paper copies of the U.S. patents to be
removed from the examiners' search rooms.
DATES: Any interested non-profit organization should
contact the USPTO on or before March 14, 2002 to indicate a desire to
acquire paper copies of U.S. patents. If such interest is expressed,
and the USPTO proceeds with donating the paper copies of U.S. patents
removed from the examiners' search rooms to a non-profit organization,
interested non-profit organizations will then be required to contact
the USPTO within thirty days of the date the USPTO's web site is
updated to include the subclasses in which the organization is
interested.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Any interested
non-profit organization should contact Richard Seidel by facsimile
marked "ATTN EXAMINERS SEARCH ROOMS" at (703) 308-7725. Questions
concerning this notice may be directed to Richard Seidel by telephone
at (703) 306-3431.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The USPTO is in the process
of removing paper copies of selected subclasses of U.S. patents from
the examiners' search rooms. The National Archives and Records
Administration (NARA) has determined that paper copies of U.S. patents
in the examiners' search rooms are temporary records that may be
destroyed when no longer needed for current USPTO business. Some of the
paper copies have already been destroyed. The USPTO is considering
whether it should: (1) Dispose of the paper copies of the selected
subclasses of U.S. patents removed from the examiners' search rooms as
wastepaper; or (2) donate the paper copies of the selected subclasses
of U.S. patents removed from the examiners' search rooms to a
non-profit organization. Therefore, the USPTO is seeking input on
whether any non-profit organization is interested in acquiring the
paper copies of U.S. patents to be removed from the examiners' search
rooms (the USPTO is not currently aware of any).
Any donation of paper copies of U.S. patents must comply with the NARA
regulations for the donation of temporary records which are set out in
36 CFR 1228.60. For example, the donee must be a non-profit
organization and must agree not to sell the U.S. patent copies except
as wastepaper, the donation must be made without cost to the United
States Government, and NARA must provide written approval of the
donation. Thus, even if there is interest by a non-profit organization
in acquiring the paper copies of U.S. patents removed from the
examiners' search rooms, the USPTO may still dispose of them as
wastepaper if the USPTO cannot donate them to the non-profit
organization in a cost-effective manner or if the USPTO cannot obtain
written approval for the donation by NARA in a timely manner.
Since the USPTO is removing the paper copies of U.S. patents from the
examiners' search rooms on a subclass-by-subclass basis, the USPTO is
not in a position to accommodate a request by a non-profit organization
for a complete set of all U.S. patents or even all U.S. patents in any
particular class. The USPTO is only seeking non-profit organizations
interested in the selected subclasses for which the paper copies of
U.S. patents are being removed from the examiners' search rooms. In
addition, as the USPTO will not be conducting a file integrity review
of the paper copies of the U.S. patents in a subclass as they are being
removed from the examiners' search rooms, the USPTO cannot assure that
the paper copies of U.S. patents available for donation are a complete
set of U.S. patents even as to the selected subclasses.
If the USPTO proceeds with donating the paper copies of U.S. patents
removed from the examiners' search rooms to a non-profit organization,
the USPTO will provide a list of the subclasses for which the paper
copies of U.S. patents are being removed from the examiners' search
rooms on the USPTO's Internet web site (www.uspto.gov). The USPTO will
update this list when additional subclasses are removed from the
examiners' search rooms.
The USPTO published a notice seeking public input on a proposal to
eliminate patent and trademark classified paper files from the public
search room. See Notice of Request for Comments on Development of
a Plan to Remove the Patent and Trademark Classified Paper Files from
the Public Search Room, 66 FR 45012 (Aug. 27, 2001), 1250
Off. Gaz. Pat. Office 137 (Sept. 25, 2001). This notice
concerns a plan to dispose of paper copies of selected subclasses of
U.S. patents removed from the examiners' search rooms and is not
related to the development of a plan to eliminate patent and trademark
classified paper files from the public search room.
February 5, 2002 JAMES E. ROGAN
Under Secretary of Commerce for
Intellectual Property and,
Director of the
Patent and Trademark Office