United States Patent and Trademark Office OG Notices: 15 April 2003
Survey of Registered Practitioners in Patent Cases The Office of Enrollment and Discipline (OED) will be conducting a survey pursuant to 37 C.F.R. 10.11(b) of the active registered practitioners. The purpose of the survey is to ascertain whether the practitioners desire to remain on the register. The United States Patent and Trademark Office benefits from the survey by obtaining confirmation that OED's records regarding each practitioner's address and telephone number are correct, or by receiving updated information. In the past, the survey has prompted some individuals to advise OED of the deaths of other practitioners. At the present time, there are more than 28,000 active registered practitioners. A register of all active registered practitioners, also called the roster, is found on the Office web site at www.uspto.gov/web/offices/dcom/olia/oed/roster/index.html. This survey will not be conducted of the entire roster of 28,000 active registered practitioners at one time. Instead, the survey is being conducted of 22 per cent of the active registered practitioners at a time. It is expected that the survey will occur twice each year, and that the entire active register will be surveyed in five years. A survey letter will be mailed on March 31, 2003, to active registered practitioners whose registrations numbers are 33,211 through 39,486, inclusive. Enclosed with the survey letter will be a blue Data Sheet, which practitioners must be complete and return to OED within thirty days of March 31, 2003. The survey will be mailed to the address on the roster. This is the last address for which the Director of Enrollment and Discipline received separate notice. Practitioners can determine if they should receive a survey letter and Data Sheet by checking the roster on the Office web site. A practitioner on the roster with a registration number within the range from 33,211 through 39,486, should receive the survey letter and blue Data Sheet by April 7, 2003, if the practitioner receives mail at the address on the roster. If a practitioner does not receive the survey by April 7, 2003, the practitioner should contact LouWilda Turner via mail addressed to the Mail Stop OED, Director, United States Patent and Trademark Office, P.O. Box 2327, Arlington, VA 22202-2327, or via e-mail addressed to oed@uspto.gov. A practitioner on the roster with a registration number from 33,211 through 39,486 who no longer receives mail at the address listed in the roster must provide the new address to receive the survey letter and blue Data Sheet. Please contact LouWilda Turner at the foregoing addresses. The name and address of any practitioner failing to reply and give any information requested by the Director within the 30-day time limit specified will be published in the Official Gazette. A further 30-day opportunity will be given to respond and provide the requested information. Thereafter, the names of practitioners failing to reply and give the requested information will be removed from the register and the names of individuals so removed will be published in the Official Gazette. The name of any individual so removed may be reinstated on the register as may be appropriate and upon payment of the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.21(a)(3). If an individual's name is not on the roster, and the individual's registration number is within the range from 33,211 through 39,486, the individual's name has been endorsed as inactive on the roster. Individuals whose names are endorsed as inactive include those who failed to reply to previous surveys, or requested to be removed from the roster, as well as individuals employed by the Office. No survey will be sent to these individuals. Practitioners having a registration number not between 33,211 through 39,486, are not in the current survey. Accordingly, it is not necessary for them to call or advise OED that they did not receive the survey. A survey will be sent to them in the future. March 18, 2003 HARRY I. MOATZ Director of Enrollment and Discipline