Cassis Currents No. 20
December 2003
NEW USPTO HOME PAGE AND CIS PAGE DEBUT
A new home page for the USPTO web site debuted on October 1. With it, a new
Products and Services page that highlights the information products and services
that Customer Information Services (CIS) makes available to the public also
debuted at http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/cio/cis/prodsvc.htm (shown in Fig. 1). A “Products and Services” link is provided in
the lower left corner of the home page.
Figure 1 The New Customer Information Services Products and Services Page
The CIS organization is made up of three offices: the Office of Electronic
Information Products (OEIP), the Office of Public Information Services (OPIS),
and the Office of Public Records (OPR). Each of these offices is represented
on the new Products and Services page. By bringing all of the products and services
provided by the various offices in CIS together on this one page, we hope that
our customers can make one stop here and not need to look in multiple places
for this type of information.
OEIP staff produces the Cassis patent and trademark optical disc products,
makes patent and trademark datafiles available on tape and via File Transfer
Protocol (FTP), and compiles statistical reports based on patent activity. From
the CIS page, users can link directly the USPTO Catalog of Products and Services
and review ordering information for Cassis products and patent and trademark
datafiles. A link is also provided to free patent bibliographic data, from September
1996 to date, available via FTP.
Access to the statistical reports from the Patent Technology Monitoring Division
(formerly TAF) has been made a little easier with direct links to specific types
of reports, such as patenting trends, and patent statistics by geographic origin,
organization, or technology.
Special alerts for Cassis and datafile customers including Cassis Subscriber
Notices and weekly Trademark Daily XML Migration Status Reports are provided
in the Highlights column. There are also links to information about new products,
upcoming seminars at Patent and Trademark Depository Libraries (PTDLs), and
CIS Newsletters, including Cassis Currents.
There are direct links to access the Electronic Official Gazette - Patents
(eOG:P), the Official Gazette - Trademarks, and other publications available
on the USPTO web site.
OPIS oversees the USPTO Public Search facilities, the PTDLs, the USPTO Contact
Center (UCC), formerly General Information Services Division, and the production
of a number of publications, including the USPTO Products and Services Catalog
and Information Contacts.
The page provides links to the Public Search Facilities and PTDL pages. There
is also a new “Frequently Asked Questions” prepared by the UCC.
OPR is responsible for processing patent and trademark assignment recordations
and providing many types of copies of USPTO documents, including certified copies
and other copy services. A direct link is also provided to the USPTO Online
Shopping System for ordering copies.
Links to a variety of assignment sources on the USPTO site are available from
this page, including filing trademark assignments online and the newly added
Trademark Assignments on the Web System for searching assignment recordations.
See the next article for more information on the System.
We will be using this page to make important announcements and to provide information
about new products or events, so you might want to bookmark it and check it
periodically. We have more ideas for the Highlights column that will be implemented
in the future. We hope to make this a page that you will want to visit often.
Please contact us with questions or suggestions for items that you would like
to see on this page.
TRADEMARK ASSIGNMENTS ON THE WEB SYSTEM IS NOW AVAILABLE
The Trademark Assignments on the Web system, the first phase in the deployment
of the Patent and Trademark Assignments on the Web system, was launched on the
USPTO web site on December 3. Patent Assignments on the Web is scheduled to
be deployed on January 26, 2004.
Previously, all USPTO electronic databases that have been available to the
public on the web site display assignment information provided by the applicant
at the time of patent grant, patent application publication, or trademark registration.
This information may not have been recorded with the USPTO. Recorded assignment
information has only been available on-site in the USPTO search facilities in
Arlington, Virginia, which resulted in limited public access.
Trademark Assignments on the Web (and ultimately the Patents component) provides
assignments recorded with the USPTO at the time of or subsequent to grant or
registration. All trademark assignments recorded at the USPTO after 1955 can
be accessed through this system; all patent assignments recorded at the USPTO
after August 1980 will be available.
The Patent and Trademark Assignments on the Web System provides all publicly
available information recorded at the USPTO related to each assignment recordation.
Data from pending patents is redacted (omitted) in the display.
The Patent and Trademark Assignments on the Web System offers indexed search
fields related to recorded assignment documents. Searchable and displayable
patent and trademark assignment fields include: property number, assignor name,
assignee name, and reel/frame number. Search results for both patents and trademarks
display the reel/frame number, property numbers, conveyance data, assignor name,
assignee name, correspondence address, and recorded and execution dates.
If multiple properties (patent or trade-mark) are associated with a particular
assignment recordation, the system displays all data within that assignment
provided the information is open to public inspection. In addition, if a patent
or trademark property has been recorded in the USPTO more than once, all recorded
assignment data is retrieved and displayed.
Information available in the Patent and Trademark Assignments on the Web System
is based on the data provided to the Assignment Division in the Office of Public
Records. The USPTO does not make a determination as to validity of the assignment
submitted for recordation. Additionally there is no effort to standardize names
of assignors or assignees; names are recorded as provided. Cross-references
to additional details associated with the assignor and/or assignee names will
also be available.
The system is accessible from a number of pages, including the “All About
Assignments” section of the Products
and Services page and directly at http://assignments.uspto.gov/assignments/.
NEW PRODUCT - ANNUAL INDEX OF PATENTS - 2001 TO BE AVAILABLE SOON
A new DVD-ROM product, the Annual Index of Patents - 2001, is expected to be
available in December or January. This product is similar to the recently released
Annual Index of Patents - 2002 on DVD-ROM, and provides all indexes to patents
issued in 2001. In addition, the one-page bibliographic record of each patent
from the weekly eOG:P is included.
The year’s patents are indexed by patentee name, classification, type
of patent (utility, design, plant, etc.), and geographic location, state or
country, of the first listed inventor. Patent bibliographic records contain
inventor and classification information, an exemplary drawing, if applicable,
and a representative claim.
Patent and Trademark Office Notices for 2001 are included and are indexed by
number, subject, and date as well as linked from the indexes. Statistical information
that contained in the paper volumes is also included.
Since the eOG:P began publication in July 2002 and OG records were not available
electronically before that time, the information for the 2001 Index was compiled
from weekly tapes for 2001. The reexamination records were created manually
as they are only available in an image format, not in machine-readable text.
The Annual Indexes of Patents for 1999 and 2000 will be published in paper
and are currently being compiled.
The price for this DVD-ROM product will be $300. As the product nears completion,
Cassis subscribers will receive a new product announcement and an announcement
will also be made in Cassis Currents. An announcement will also be made on the
CIS page discussed earlier in this issue.
Work on the Annual Index of Patents - 2003 will begin in January 2004 and should
be available soon after that. The Annual Index of Patents - 2003 will be the
first index that will have had all of the annual information available from
previously published eOG:P files. This will make the project run much smoother
and much more quickly. As this product nears completion, customers will receive
notification.
STAFF NEWS - JEFF ALDERSON RETIRES
After 30 years with the USPTO, 15 of those spent in the Office of Electronic
Information Products (OEIP), Jeff Alderson retired on October 31.
During his time with OEIP, he was involved with the Cassis optical disc program
since its inception in 1987. Jeff managed the production of each new DocDW USA
product as it was introduced, first USAPat, followed by USAMark, and then USAApp.
He also directed the recently completed monumental USAPat back file project.
Before taking over the DocDW products, Jeff was instrumental in the deployment
and maintenance of the Cassis workstations in the PTDLs as well as in Cassis
usage log collection from the PTDLs.
Jeff will be moving to Florida, where he plans to live near the water. His
ability to get going as quickly as he had planned was temporarily delayed after
his current home near the water on Maryland’s eastern shore was badly
damaged by Hurricane Isabel. He is staying in the area until most of the repairs
have been made. Once completed, he plans to hit the road to Florida and see
where life leads him.
Maureen Daley is taking over the DocDW production.
Any of you who have known him, know that he will be missed for his rich sense
of humor. It just won’t be the same around here... Congratulations and
best wishes Jeff!
CASSIS PRICE CHANGES
For the first time since 1999, prices for the Cassis products are increasing.
These prices will be effective upon renewal of your subscription of the Cassis2
searchable products and on January 1, 2004, for the DocDW image products. New
prices are given below.
Cassis2 Searchable Products:
Patents and Trademarks ASSIGN - annual subscription of six discs (published
bimonthly) $450
Patents ASSIST - annual subscription of four discs (published quarterly) $300
Patents BIB - annual subscription of six discs (published bimonthly) $450
Patents CLASS - annual subscription of six discs (published bimonthly) $450
Trademarks BIB - annual subscription of six discs (published bimonthly) $450
DocDW Image Products:
USAApp - calendar year subscription (published weekly) $3400
USAMark - calendar year subscription (published monthly) $350
USAPat - calendar year subscription (published weekly) $3400
Electronic Official Gazette - Patents (eOG:P) Products:
Annual Index of Patentees - 2002 $300
Annual Index of Patentees - 2001 (available December 2003/January 2004) $300
Annual Index of Patentees - 2003 (available early 2004) $300
eOG:P - annual subscription (published weekly) $400
eOG:P - single issue - $20 each
INTERESTING PATENTS
We’re adding a new feature to Cassis Currents with this issue. When there
is space, we will feature patents that are interesting for some reason. Perhaps
the inventor was famous or the invention brought about a major change in the
way people live.
In this issue, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers’
flight, we are featuring Patent # 821,393, granted to them on May 22, 1906,
for a “Flying Machine.”
Please let us know if you have a favorite patent that you would like to see
highlighted.
Figure 2 Drawing from the Wright Brothers' Patent
#821,393
Figure 3 Specifications from the Wright Brothers' Patent # 821,393
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