USAPat Subscriber Notice
We are pleased to provide you with the fifth set
of USAPat back file discs. These 50 DVD-ROM discs hold the facsimile images
of the full text and drawings of U.S. patents from 1970 through 1980. You
will receive sets of 50-discs, approximately every 4 months, until the
entire back file through 1999 has been filled in. The project is now more
than halfway complete and the expected date for the final set of discs
is 2002 September.
The cumulative index for USAPat has beenmerged
to include both the back file disc information as well as the current disc
information. This merged index will be placed on issue USP2001W34, which
you should have received prior to this back file shipment. It is not necessary
for you to install any of the back file discs when they arrive.
Please be aware that because of this merge, the
cumulative index has grown to over 150 megabytes. You will notice that
it now takes more than a minute to copy the index to your hard drive.
The cumulative index is in chronological order,
so older patent numbers will be listed at the beginning of the index. As
each set of 50 back file discs is published, the cumulative index will
have patent numbers at the beginning that correspond to the completed sets
of discs and then it will jump to the end for the patent numbers contained
on the discs from 1994 - date. Eventually, the index will fill in as the
back file is completed.
Note that document numbers beginning with an alpha
character, "X" patents, for example, will be at the end of the index. To
jump to these numbers, begin typing the letter and the index will automatically
move to that place in the index.
An updated back file production schedule follows: