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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)

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

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

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

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)

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