PRESS RELEASE #99-26 Tuesday, August 31, 1999 Contact: Ruth Nyblod Maria V. Hernandez 703-305-8341 PTO LAUNCHES KIDS' PAGES ON WEB SITE As part of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's (PTO) recognition of National Inventor's Month, the PTO is introducing web pages devoted to children. The web pages will provide patent and trademark information in a language that children can understand and will expose future inventors and entrepreneurs to the inventive thinking process in a positive, fun environment. The kids' pages can be found at http://www.uspto.gov/go/opa/kids/index.html President Clinton issued a request in April 1997, which directed federal agencies to establish web pages for kids. This led to the PTO kids' web pages and its primary purpose to stimulate children's interest in innovation and intellectual property protection and its role in our national history and economy. The three target audiences for these kids web pages are children kindergarten through 6th grade; children in 6th grade through 12th grade; and parents, teachers and coaches. The kids' pages include a welcome from acting Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks, Q. Todd Dickinson, patent and trademark facts, a daily calendar of patents and trademarks, educational stories and games, and links to other federal government kids' pages. "PTO's goal with the kids' web pages is to reach out to our future and provide children with the tools they need, sparking growth in intellectual property for years to come," said Q. Todd Dickinson, acting Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks. The PTO is the Commerce Department’s user fee-funded bureau that administers laws relevant to granting patents and registering trademarks; advises the Secretary of Commerce, the President of the United States, and the Administration on patent, trademark and copyright protection; and advises the Secretary of Commerce, the President of the United States, and the Administration on the trade-related aspects of intellectual property. Over 6 million patents for inventions have been issued since the first patent in 1790. Last year PTO issued 155,000 patents and registered 106,279 trademarks.   -##-