MEDIA ADVISORY

							PTO 96-04


Contact:  Richard Maulsby				PTO to hold Hearings on Issues
	    (703) 305-8341				Relating to Patent Protection for 
							Nucleic Acid Sequences


The Commerce Department's Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) is holding two
public hearings, on April 16 and April 23, regarding search and examination procedures on patent applications for DNA sequences.

Interested members of the public are invited to testify or present written comments on the following issues:  1)  Is there a more cost-effective way to search and examine applications containing large numbers of sequences in view of the PTO's limited human and computer resources?  2)  How should the significantly higher cost associated with searching applications claiming large numbers of sequences be underwritten?  3)  Do you have any specific suggestions which would facilitate the implementation of short term and long term solutions? 

The hearing on Tuesday, April 16 will be held from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. at the University of California, San Diego, International Center, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, California. 

The public hearing on Tuesday, April 23 will be held from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. at the Patent and Trademark Office, Suite 912, Commissioner's Conference room, Crystal Park 2, 2121 Crystal Drive, Arlington, Virginia.









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April 5, 1996



             
						PTO 96-05

                                                                        PTO Installs Workstations from the
Contact:  Richard Maulsby                              European and Japanese Patent Offices
                   (703) 305-8341

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Workstations that will allow patent examiners to conduct electronic patent searches of 

European Patent Office (EPO) and the Japanese Patent Office (JPO) databases have been 

installed in the Patent and Trademark Office, the Commerce Department announced

 today.

"This exchange of staff and equipment will expand our understanding of each other's search systems and strategies and build a foundation for additional work-sharing opportunities," said  Bruce Lehman, Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks.  "The PTO looks forward to incorporating the results of this exchange into its on-going reengineering endeavor," Lehman continued.

As part of a continuing Trilateral exchange of information and equipment between the American, European, and Japanese patent offices, these workstations will be used by PTO examiners to search for prior art and make a determination of patentability for new inventions.

The EPO workstation, EPOQUE II, was installed in August 1995.  PTO staff were trained by EPO staff to search databases that include patents from its member countries throughout most of western Europe, as well as U.S. patents.

Two JPO F-term workstations were installed and training was begun in March 1996.  Since all of the screen displays are in Japanese, PTO translators are being trained to conduct searches on behalf of patent examiners. These searches will be conducted at night because of the time difference between the two countries. 

Later this year,  the latest version of PTO's image workstations will be installed at the EPO and JPO for use by their examiners.
  
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April 9, 1996