NOTICE OF FINAL RULEMAKING

PATENT AND TRADEMARK FEE REVISIONS

The Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) is amending the rules of practice in patent and trademark cases, Parts 1 and 2 of title 37, Code of Federal Regulations, to adjust certain patent fee and trademark service fee amounts. The adjustments are in accor dance with the applicable provisions of title 35, United States Code; section 31 of the Trademark (Lanham) Act of 1946 (15 U.S.C. 1113); and section 10101 of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 (as amended by section 8001 of Public Law 103-66), all as amended by the Patent and Trademark Office Authorization Act of 1991 (Public Law 102-204).

A notice was published in the Federal Register on July 29, 1997 in Volume 62, Number 145, pages 40450 to 40457, and in the Official Gazette of the United States Patent and Trademark Office on August 19, 1997. The effective date for the n ew fee amounts is October 1, 1997.

Any fee amount that is paid on or after October 1, 1997 is subject to the new fee schedule.

Your attention is drawn to the following changes in the fee schedule:

• Certain patent fee amounts are being adjusted by 2.6 percent, which reflects the Administration’s projected Consumer Price Index for the twelve-month period beginning October 1, 1996.

• Three trademark service fees are being adjusted to recover the average cost of providing the services. No other trademark fees are affected by this notice.

The fee schedule and the final rule notice are accessible via the PTO homepage at http://www.uspto.gov. If you have any questions related to patents and trademarks, please contact the PTO General Information Services Division at (703) 308-4357 or (800 ) PTO-9199, or by fax at (703) 305-7786.

Edward R. Kazenske

Acting Associate Commissioner and

Chief Financial Officer