PRESS RELEASE Contact (media inquiries only): Maria V. Hernandez 703-305-8341 April 25, 2001 #01-16

USPTO WEB SITE GETS FACELIFT Site navigation tools also sharpened. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has unveiled a new design for its web site (www.uspto.gov). The new design reflects a more modern web presence and emphasizes USPTO's commitment to electronic commerce. The new web pages reflect exhaustive research and are influenced by customer focus groups and by the best practices of government, business and educational web sites. The new design is visually strong, easy to navigate and puts a focus on doing business electronically. All functions associated with filing patent and trademark applications, for example, and ordering patents and trademarks electronically, are now in one place. All searchable patent and trademark databases are accessible with a single mouse click. For the first time, USPTO's web site has a full search function. "Redesigning USPTO's web site is just another way of making government more accessible to everyone, as well as easier to use, saving time and money for both the agency and the consumer," says Nicholas Godici, Acting Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Acting Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. USPTO's web site gets 30 million visits a month and has received numerous awards for its content. Anyone with Internet access can file a patent or trademark application online at www.uspto.gov. The site also offers electronic access to over 6 million U.S. patents and more than 2 million U.S. trademarks. Certain patent applications and all trademark filings may also be viewed or searched at the web site. In addition, the site has a comprehensive collection of patent and trademark information and rules and regulations. USPTO administers patent and trademark laws protecting intellectual property and rewarding individual effort. Intellectual property is a potent force in the competitive free enterprise system. By protecting intellectual endeavors and encouraging technological progress, USPTO seeks to preserve the United States' technological edge, which is a key to our current and future competitiveness. USPTO also disseminates patent and trademark information that promotes an understanding of intellectual property protection and facilitates the development and sharing of new technologies worldwide. Over 6 million patents have been issued since the first patent in 1790 and more than 2.3 million trademarks have been registered since the first in 1870. Last year USPTO issued 182,223 patents and registered 127,794 trademarks. # # #