FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
                                                  PTO 96-24
CONTACT:  Richard Maulsby
          Lisa-Joy Zgorski
          (703)305-8341

         PATENT AND TRADEMARK DEPOSITORY LIBRARIES:
        NOW CONVENIENTLY SITUATED IN ALL FIFTY STATES
                              
ARLINGTON, VA -- Now, step one in obtaining a patent or
trademark has become just a bit easier.  The U.S. Commerce
Department's Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) announced
today that it will open a new Patent and Trademark
Depository Library (PTDL) in Burlington, Vermont.  "We are
proud to add your library to our nationwide network of
PTDL's, and especially pleased because this designation
allows us to say that for the first time, there is a PTDL in
all fifty states," said Bruce A. Lehman, Assistant Secretary
of Commerce and Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks.  In
higher population states, such as California, New York,
Florida and Texas, there are as many as five PTDL's.

This new PTDL will be housed in the U.S. Government
Documents area of the Bailey Howe Library at the University
of Vermont.  PTDL's maintain collections of current and
earlier-issued patents, as well as Patent and Trademark
reference materials.  While reference collections vary from
library to library, all PTDL's provide direct, computerized
access to PTO data.  The Vermont PTDL will assure access to
Government publications, including the U.S. Patent Official
Gazette, dating back to the 1800s, and an extensive
collection of technical journals in medicine, the applied
sciences and engineering.  Copying facilities are available
for a fee, along with technical staff assistance.

According to the Patent Statistical Report, compiled and
published by the PTO's Technology Assessment and Forecast
Program, over 3000 patents have been awarded to residents of
the state of Vermont during the last twenty years.  This
number has been steadily growing:  554 patents were granted
to Vermontites in 1995, 483 in 1994, 472 in 1993, and 436 in
1992 and 407 in 1991 and 369 in 1990.  During the past two
decades, some 666 inventors have been residents of Vermont.
Similar statistics are available for other
states/regions/counties and can be provided by request.


November 19, 1996

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