FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:                                PTO 96-08
Richard Maulsby
Lisa-Joy Zgorski
USPTO Solicits New Corporate
(703) 305-8341
Headquarters


The Commerce Department's Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) today
announced the

issuance of a solicitation for offers (SFO) seeking proposals for
a 20-year lease to

provide the PTO with a 2 million square foot headquarters
facility.  The PTO, a fully

fee-funded agency, is currently located in 16 separate buildings
in Arlington, VA.

"We are enthusiastic about this process," stated Bruce A. Lehman,
Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Commissioner of Patents and
Trademarks.  "I am confident that it will yield a modern, fully-
equipped, employee-friendly facility which will help us to better
serve our cutomers."

The prospectus, which was approved by Congress in the fall of
1995, stipulates that the facility must be located on a Northern
Virginia site within the area bounded by the Potomac River on the
north and east; Route 50 and the Capital Beltway on the south;
and Route 659, Route 7, and Goose Creek on the west.  Northern
Virginia sites not within this geographic area, but within 2500
walkable feet of a Metrorail station, will also be considered.
All sites must be within a reasonable distance of restaurants and
retail and services outlets.

Final award is anticipated in the summer of 1998, with
construction beginning later that year.  Occupancy is expected to
begin in the fall of 2001.

                                                           xxx

June 26, 1996