(230)                     U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

              Office of the Assistant Secretary and Commissioner
                           of Patents and Trademarks

                           PUBLIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE
                             FOR TRADEMARK AFFAIRS

Agency: Patent and Trademark Office, Comerce
Action: Notice of Committee Charter Amendment
Summary: In accordance with the provisions of the Federal Advisory
Committee Act, 5 U.S.C. App. (1976), and after consultation with GSA, it
has been determined that an amendment of the charter of the Public
Advisory Committee for Trademark Affairs is in the public interest in
connection with the performance of duties imposed on the Department by
law. The charter amendment was signed on December 3, 1990.
   The charter has been amended as follows to: (1) broaden the topics
that the Committee may address to include international trademark law,
(2) allow the membership of the Committee to be drawn from a wider range
of the trademark community rather than soley from the regular, associate
and supplementary membership of the United States Trademark Association
(USTA), (3) increase the number of members on the Committee fron 15 to
18, (4) provide for the direct selection of the members and appointment
of the chairman of the Committee by the Assistant Secretary and
Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks rather than by the president of
the USTA, and (5) set the term of membership at two years.
For Further Information Contact: Lynne Beresford, Committee Control
Officer, Office of the Assistant Commissioner for Trademarks, U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office, Washington, D.C. 20231, telephone: (703)
557-7464, or Jan Jivatodi, Committee Management Analyst, U.S. Department
of Commerce, Washington, D.C. 20230, telephone: (202) 377-4217.
Supplementary Information: The Committee was first established in
September 1970, and the latest charter renewal was signed on April 4,
1990. The charter amendment was approved on December 3, 1990, and
provides for the following:
   (1) The amendment broadens the objectives and duties of the Committee
to specifically embrace international trademark law. The previous
charter permitted the Committee to advise the Patent and Trademark
Office only on the steps which could be taken to increase the efficiency
and effectiveness of the administration of the Trademark Act and to
provide a continuing source of knowledge from the private sector to the
Government. Given the increased interest within the trademark community
and the Patent and Trademark Office in international trademark law,
especially in the Madrid Protocol and harmonization, it is desirable
that the charter refer explicitly to international trademark law.
   (2) Section 5(b)(2) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act requires
that the membership of advisory committees be "fairly balanced in terms
of the points of view represented...." The amendment furthers that goal
by permitting the membership to be drawn from a wide range of the
trademark community including users of the public search room, academia,
members of the public at large, and the business community.
   (3) The amendment increases the number of members on the Committee
from 15 to 18. The increase was needed to permit additional members,
from different sectors of the trademark community, to be added to the
Committee without having to displace any of the current Committee
members.
   (4) Section 5(b)(2) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act requires
that "the membership be fairly balanced in terms of the points of view
represented..." The amendment futhers that goal by permitting the
chairman to be appointed, and the members of the Committee to be
selected by the Assistant Secretary and Commissioner of Patents and
Trademarks.
   (5) The charter of the Public Advisory Committee for Trademark
Affairs did not set terms for members. In order to promote more orderly
administration of the Committee, the amendment sets the terms of the
members at two years. Members will serve at the discretion of the
Assistant Secretary and Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks.
Appointements, when vacancies occur, shall be for the remainder of the
unexpired term.

Jan. 16, 1991                                       HARRY F. MANBECK, Jr.
                                     Assistant Secretary and Commissioner
                                                of Patents and Trademarks

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