PRESS RELEASE Contact: Brigid Quinn 703-305-8341 brigid.quinn@uspto.gov August 13, 2002 #02-58 Official Publication of Patents Issued Available Electronically New Format to Lower Costs and Provide Localized Data on Patents In concert with its 21st Century Strategic Plan, the Department of Commerce's United States Patent and Trademark Office's (USPTO) will discontinue paper publication of the Official Gazette of the United States Patent and Trademark Office - Patents (Official Gazette-Patents) after the September 24, 2002 issue. The publication is now available on CD-ROM. The cost is $15.00 per issue or $300 annually, compared to the paper version that costs $70.00 for a single copy and $1465 annually. The Official Gazette-Patents also is now available on the USPTO Web site (www.uspto.gov) free of charge. However, space considerations only allow archiving for the latest six issues. The Official Gazette of the United States Patent and Trademark Office - Patents has been published weekly since1872 and serves as the official notification of the patents issued each week. The information provided by the electronic products will be the same, but there will be many advantages over paper, including direct links from the index to patent images, and to patents by state or country. The USPTO will continue paper publication of the Official Gazette of the United States Patent and Trademark Office - Trademarks and the Consolidated Listing of Official Gazette Notices. For more information, see the federal register notice on this topic on the USPTO Web site at www.uspto.gov. # # #