[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 86 (Thursday, May 2, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19611-19612]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-10930]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Patent and Trademark Office
Notice of Hearing and Request for Comments on a Technical
Documentation Strategy
AGENCY: Patent and Trademark Office, Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of a hearing and request for public comments.
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SUMMARY: The Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) will hold a public
hearing and is seeking written comments to obtain views of the public
on the effort of the PTO to make technical documentation accessible to
patent examiners and the public while adhering to certain constraints
on financial and personnel resources. Interested members of the public
are invited to testify at a public hearing and to present written
comments on the topics outlined in this notice or on any aspect of this
effort.
DATES: A public hearing will be held at 9:00 a.m. on Friday, May 31,
1996
Requests to present oral testimony at the public hearing should be
received on or before May 30, 1996.
Any written comments by those persons offering testimony at the
hearings and related to that testimony should be submitted on or before
May 30, 1996.
Other written comments will be accepted until June 7, 1996.
ADDRESSES: The hearing will be held in the Commissioner's Conference
Room (Room 912), Crystal Park Two, 2121 Crystal Drive, Arlington,
Virginia.
Persons wishing to speak at the hearings must notify Mr. Lee
Schroeder, in writing marked to his attention at Commissioner of
Patents and Trademarks, Box 4, Washington, DC 20231, or by telephone
(703) 305-9300 or by telefax at (703) 305-8885, in order to be placed
on a list of speakers for the hearing.
Persons wishing to offer written comments should address those
comments to the Commissioner of Patent and Trademarks, Box 4, Patent
and Trademark Office, Washington, DC 20231, marked to the attention of
Mr. Lee Schroeder.
Written comments and transcripts of the hearing will be available
for public inspection in Room 902 of Crystal Park Two, at 2121 Crystal
Drive, Arlington, Virginia.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Lee Schroeder by telephone at
(703) 305-9300, by telefax at (703) 305-8885 or by mail marked to his
attention and addressed to Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks, Box
4, Patent and Trademark Office, Washington, DC 20231.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
1. Background
The PTO currently makes technical documentation (foreign and
domestic patent and non-patent literature in many forms) available to
persons within the PTO for use in the patent examination process. Much
of the documentation is accessible through use of the United States
Patent Classification System (USPCS). The same documentation is made
available to members of the public for use as a source of technical
information or for other patent-related uses.
To better use the limited financial and personnel resources
available to the PTO, certain changes have been made in the
documentation area. Less emphasis is being placed on the continuing
reclassification of the documentation in the USPCS and the
classification of new foreign patent copies and more reliance is being
placed on the classification efforts of other countries and the use of
more sophisticated electronic search tools.
To be more specific, the PTO is placing increased reliance on the
many commercial data bases of technical information as well as data
bases maintained by the PTO. These data bases cover foreign and
domestic patent and non-patent literature. The PTO is also placing
increased reliance on the classifying, abstracting and summarizing
efforts of documentation by both domestic and foreign private entities
and also by foreign government or intergovernmental entities.
Consequently, less reliance is being placed on the reclassification
effort within the PTO. Also, the PTO no longer classifies new foreign
patents in the USPCS.
The public's views are sought on the increased reliance on the work
of others in the classifying, abstracting and summarizing of
documentation and less reliance on the USPCS and classification efforts
of persons within the PTO. Public views are also sought on the
increased reliance on computerized searching aids, be they full text
data bases or data bases of abstracted material, classified or not.
Public views are also sought on placing increased reliance on data
bases and other sources to at least identify such documents after which
a full-text copy of the document could be obtained.
Written comments may be offered on the questions posed below.
Comments will also be accepted on any other aspects of the approach of
the PTO to make technical information available both to patent
examiners and the public.
2. Questions for the Hearing
The public hearing will be held to receive comments on the
following specific questions:
A. Are the classification efforts of others (using systems or data
bases of classification different from the United States Patent
Classification System) able to replace, or partially replace the
[[Page 19612]]
United States Patent Classification System?
B. Are the public users of the classified technical information
systems of the Patent and Trademark Office willing to contribute, or
contribute more, toward ever increasing costs of maintaining these
systems?
C. Since the usefulness of automated search tools is affected by
the characteristics of the technology being searched, should the Patent
and Trademark Office tailor the search system by technology rather than
maintaining the USPCS for all technologies?
D. Since it is known that different search tools and techniques
lead to different search results (e.g., different results from text or
structure search vs. classified image search), are automated assisted
searches acceptable if there is an overall improvement in the quality
of the patentability search?
E. Advances contemplated in future search systems permit the
examiner to add value to the data base while conducting a search by
adding or changing classifications for a document, inserting markers
and notes on a document, adding documents, etc. This value-added
capability leads to search files that exist only in electronic form and
which are constantly being upgraded.
1. Does the public need access to the examiner's search file?
2. For post-prosecution/litigation purposes, does the public need
to know what is in the examiner's search file at the time the examiner
made the search?
F. How should the Patent and Trademark Office approach the issue of
classification and retrieval of prior art in view of the current state
of the art in the electronic document search and retrieval area, and
expected developments in this area, including fully paperless patent
and non-patent data bases?
Dated: April 26, 1996.
Bruce A. Lehman,
Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Commissioner of Patents and
Trademarks.
[FR Doc. 96-10930 Filed 5-1-96; 8:45 am]
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