Cassis
Currents NO. 18
November 2002
USAPat BACK FILE PROJECT COMPLETED!
With great pleasure, we announce that the project
to publish all U.S. patents from 1790 to 1999 has been completed. Set number 9
was distributed in October. This set includes discs 401 - 422, with patents
from 1998 and 1999.
Under Secretary James E. Rogan noted, "This
collection provides a unique snapshot of the first two centuries of American
technology and is an especially significant accomplishment during the
bicentennial year of the United States Patent and Trademark Office." The
project to publish facsimile images of the full text and drawings of all U.S.
patents granted from 1790 through 1999 began in January 2000.
This milestone is the latest example of patent
dissemination keeping up with the rapid pace of information technology. In the
1870’s, the USPTO began distributing paper copies of patents to a network of
libraries throughout the country. WWII introduced microfilm, which would later
became the medium for distribution of patents to Patent Depository Libraries (PDLs
- now PTDLs) by the 1970’s. CD-ROM replaced microfilm as the mode of
distribution of patents in the 1990’s and was followed in 2000 by the new
standard, DVD-ROM.
USAPat is the most complete collection of U.S.
patents available in a non-volatile medium. It works, even when the Internet
doesn’t. The USAPat collections include all utility, design, plant, reissue,
and reexamined patents, statutory invention registrations (SIRs), and
certificates of correction.
With these discs, the back file now entirely
replaces the earlier 1994–1999 USAPat collection on CD-ROM. The 1994-1999 set
should probably be discarded; redistributing these discs is a violation of the
software licensing agreement.
During the next several months, one or two
additional discs containing corrections or omissions may be distributed to you.
After these discs, any additional changes to patents for patents issued 1790
through 1999 will be included as part of the front file.
Congratulations to Jeff Alderson and his staff
for successfully completing such a monumental task over the past three years!
The back file is sold as a complete set only for
$20,000. A limited number of sets are still available. Please contact us for
further information.
Figure 1 DocDW Team with the Final USAPat Back File Disc
(from
left to right, Yousef Nawab, Usha Anantharayan, Shahana Begum, Jeff Alderson,
and Veda Raman)
OEIP WELCOMES A NEW DIRECTOR
Bruce Cox, Director of OEIP for the past two
years, has moved on to a new position. Bruce is known to many of you through his
years of experience as a PTDL librarian, heading the Cassis CD-ROM pilot
project, and later managing the Electronic Products Branch.
One of the hats that Bruce has been wearing in
addition to his work in OEIP is that of the Chair of the USPTO’s XML
(Extensible Markup Language) Technical Working Group. For the past several
years, Bruce has worked with our international partners to develop the Document
Type Definitions (DTDs) for patent grants, patent application publications, and
trademarks. Bruce is joining the Office of Systems Development and Maintenance,
within the OCIO, as Senior Advisor for XML Technology to work full time on these
important projects. We wish him all the best.
At the same time, we welcome Bruce’s successor,
Michael Moore. Mike returns to the USPTO after a brief time at other federal
agencies. Mike originally joined the USPTO in 1989 to work on developing the
Biotech Computer Readable Form System for the Scientific and Technical Center (STIC).
Due to the length of applications containing biotech sequences, the USPTO saw
the need for submission in electronic format. This system was one of the first
forms of electronic submission to the USPTO.
In 1990, Mike was selected to head the newly
formed Biotech Division of STIC. He was responsible for building this new
organization from the ground up. He developed and managed the Automated
Biotechnology Sequence Search (ABSS) System. Mike moved to the Search and
Information Administration (SIRA) in 1997. While there he developed a number of
automation programs, including Patent-In, and also worked on several
international projects. He received two Silver Medal Awards for his outstanding
performance at the USPTO.
In 1998, Mike joined the National Library of
Medicine (NLM), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and was
involved in converting their dial-up databases to the Web. He also designed Web
pages and was instrumental in the development of the NLM Home page. He continued
with Website development at the National Cancer Institute. He later returned to
the Department of Commerce as Web Manager for the Bureau of Economic Analysis
and had responsibility for their Website’s content.
Mike considers his new position a great
opportunity to transition existing dissemination mechanisms to the Web and other
new technologies. His wide range of experience and knowledge will definitely
assist us in accomplishing this objective.
Mike earned his undergraduate degree at the
University of Maryland and his graduate degree in Business and Marketing at
American University. Away from work, Mike enjoys listening to live music and
reading, and is also an avid sports fan. He has been married for 24 years and
has two sons aged 19 and 10.
Figure 2 Kay Melvin, Executive
for Customer Information Services, Welcomes Michael Moore, New Director of OEIP
USPTO COMMUNITY DAY
Our staff again took part in the USPTO Community Day
festivities. OEIP staff demonstrated and distributed samples of the
new eOG:P product at our booth. A specially prepared TAF brochure with examples
of their available reports and the latest issue of Cassis
Currents were also distributed.
We again displayed the map of our customers
throughout the world. The map holds a pin for each city with at least one of
OEIP’s customers. This year’s contest was to guess the number of pins on the
map - the answer is 417. The lucky winner received a one-of-a-kind eOG:P clock.
See Figure 3 for a look at the booth.
Figure 3 Paul Harrison (TAF) Awaits the Community Day Crowd
STOPWORDS ADDED TO PATENTS BIB DATABASE
In order to fit the 2002
August Patents BIB data on one disc, it was necessary for us to add stopwords to
the database. This was due to the rapid growth of data contained on Patents BIB.
The number of applications being published is now larger than
the number of patents being issued.
The following words are considered "stopwords" in the Patents BIB database and are no longer searchable:
about
above accordance according
after against all along
also and any another
are because been before
being
between
both but by can
claim comprises compromise
corresponding could described
desired did do does
during
e.g. each either embodiment
ever fig. figs. for
from further generally had
hardly has have having
hence
her
here hereby
herein hereof hereon hereto herewith him his however i.e. if include into
invention its it’s like
made
may me means more
nor not now of
onto other our out
particularly preferably preferred
present provide
provided provides really relatively respectively said same she
should since some such
suitable than that the
their
them then there
thereby therefore therefrom therein thereof thereon thereto therewith these
they this those through
thus too toward unto under
up upon use used useful using various very was were
what when where whereby
wherein whether which
while who whom whose
why will with within
without would you
eOG:P FAQ
Q. Can
I print a group of records?
A. Yes,
you can print a range or any number of individual patents. However,
you can only do this with the CD-ROM product, not the Web application.
First, note the first and last patent number you
want to print. Open your file manager. Select the CD-ROM drive, expand the OG
directory and then select the html folder. It will take a few seconds for
all of the files to appear.
Select "Details" from the View Menu so that you can see the full file information. When the files appear, click on the "Type" header so that the HTML pages and the image files are
grouped together.
Scroll down through the HTML pages until you find
the first patent number. Click on it, press the shift key, and then scroll down
to the last patent number. Once the numbers are highlighted, click your right
mouse button and select "Print." To print individual patents, click on
the first number and then hold down the Ctrl key and click on the other numbers.
These files are fairly small and print quickly
but you may encounter printer problems with a large number of patents. If you have several hundred patents, you may want to chunk them into
groups of 25 to 50. Figure 4 illustrates the process.
Figure 4 Printing eOG:P Records
ANNUAL INDEX TO THE eOG:P
We are pleased to announce that an annual index
to the Electronic Official Gazette of the United States Patent and Trademark
Office - Patents (eOG:P) for 2002 will be published in early 2003. Although
the eOG:P began publication in July 2002, the eOG:P team is gathering and
converting the data from January through June in order to provide a complete
annual index.
This annual index will be cumulative of the
information contained in the weekly issues of the eOG:P for 2002. Indexes and
bibliographic records for the year will be included in this one source.
Bibliographic records contain a representative claim and drawing (if applicable)
as well as classification, inventor and assignee information.
Consistent with the weekly eOG:P issues, patents
will be browsable by type of patent (utility, plant, etc.) and class, as well as
patentee name and the geographical location of the inventor. The Official
Gazette Notices, covering both patents and trademarks, will also be
included.
Due to the large amount of data, the eOG:P annual
index will be published on one or two DVD-ROM discs, not on CD-ROM. The price of
the index will be $300.00; it is not included in the annual subscription price
of the eOG:P. Subscribers will be notified when the annual index is available.
The Index of Patents Issued From the U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office will also be published in a paper format through 2002
to coincide with the paper publication of the Official Gazette – Patents.
This publication will continue to be supplied by the Superintendent of
Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office(GPO). For more information, please visit
the GPO Web site at: http://www. access.gpo.gov/su_docs/.
Please contact us if you have any questions or comments.
Cassis Currents is published by the Electronic Products Branch (EPB) of the Office of Electronic
Information Products (OEIP) under the Office of Chief Information Officer at the
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), an agency of the United States
Department of Commerce.
Back issues are available on the USPTO Website at http://www.uspto.gov/.
Contact us at:
Office of Electronic Information Products
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Crystal Park 3, Suite 441
Washington, D.C. 20231
cassis@uspto.gov
Fax: (703)306-2737
Phone: (703)306-2600 or (800)786-9199 (identify yourself as a Cassis
subscriber and ask
to be transferred to OEIP)