(21) Handling of Status Inquiries
This notice is intended to supplement the discussion set forth in
the Official Gazette Notice published at 893 Official Gazette 810
entitled "Status Inquires" (Dec. 21, 1971).
It has come to the attention of the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO)
that its employees may have improperly released confidential information
concerning pending applications. Specifically, issue date and patent
number information assigned to pending applications may have been
improperly released.
No information concerning pending or abandoned patent applications
(except reissue applications and reexamination proceedings) may be given
to the public by the PTO without the authorization of the applicant or
the assignee or attorney or agent of record. 35 USC 122 and 37 CFR
1.14. Other exceptions are specified at 37 CFR 1.14.
However, PTO employees will release information on the status of
patent applications to the applicant or assignee or attorney or agent of
record if the identity of the requestor can be adequately verified as
set forth below.
Telephonic status inquiries should continue to be directed to the PTO
clerical personnel. The PTO clerical personnel will obtain the caller's
full name, the application serial number and the caller's telephone
number. The PTO clerical personnel will ask the caller if there is an
attorney or agent of record.
If there is an attorney or agent of record, the PTO clerical
personnel will ask for his/her registration number. If the registration
number is not known, the PTO clerical personnel will ask for the name of
the attorney or agent of record. The PTO clerical personnel will inform
the caller that an attorney or agent of record will be called after
verification of his/her identity and that the requested status
information concerning the application will be released to that attorney
or agent.
If there is no attorney or agent of record, the PTO clerical
personnel will ask the caller why he/she is entitled to information
concerning the application. If the caller identifies himself/Herself as
an applicant or an authorized representative of the assignee of record,
the PTO clerical personnel will ask for the correspondence address of
record. Then, the PTO clerical personnel will inform caller that his/her
association with the application must be verified before any information
concerning the application can be released, and that he/she will be
called back. If the caller indicates that he/she is not an applicant or
an authorized representative of the assignee of record, the PTO clerical
personnel will inform caller that no information concerning that
application will be released.
The PTO clerical personnel will then verify the identity of any
caller claiming to be associated with the application by checking the
Patent Application Locating and Monitoring (PALM) system or the
application file.
If an attorney or agent is of record in the application, the PTO
clerical personnel will release the status information concerning the
application by calling the attorney's or agent's telephone number
obtained from PALM or the application file.
If the applicant or an authorized representative of the assignee of
record requests information, and there is no attorney or agent of record
and the correspondence of record has been verified, the PTO clerical
personnel will release the status information to the caller using the
telephone number given by the caller. If the caller's association with
the application cannot be verified, no information concerning the
application will be released. However, the caller should be informed
that the caller's association with the application could not be verified.
In handling an in-person status request, PTO clerical perbnsonnel
will ask the requester to wait while verifying their identification as
set forth above.
May 14, 1990 HARRY F. MANBECK, Jr.
Assistant Secretary and Commissioner
of Patents and Trademarks
[1115 O.G. 17]