Office of Public Records/Office of Public Information Services
Public User’s Meeting
December 21, 2005
2:00 p.m. - Randolph Building Conference Center
The Public Users Meeting was held at 2:00 p.m. in the 1 st floor conference room 1D04/1D14, Randolph Building on the USPTO campus at Carlyle in Alexandria, Virginia. Martha Sneed, OPIS Director, chaired the meeting. There were three members of the public in attendance and 9 USPTO staff.
Announcements
New Foreign Patent Database Search Capability
Howard Goldberg, CFO, attended the meeting to give an overview of the new foreign patent search capability, Derwent World Patents Index (WPI), scheduled to deploy on January 3, 2006 in the Public Search Facilities and Scientific and Technical Information Center (STIC). It will be free and accessible through PubEAST. Training will be provided to the public.
About 1,000 shoe cases of classified foreign art will soon be moved to the Springfield warehouse to open up needed space on the concourse levels. Hours of operation at the new location are from 10:00am to 2:00pm Monday through Friday. A review room will be set up.
- Question: Why can't the documents be scanned to microfilm instead of relocated?
- The cost would be prohibitive to scan and microfilm those documents. Other problems with the collection are that the classifications are not appropriate - very old, upwards of 25 years, and there are minimal English translations attached. Sixty to seventy percent are deemed non-useful by the Patent Examining Corps. Roughly 40% of the collection is staying in Alexandria. We encourage you to thoroughly explore the capabilities of WPI.
Public Search Facility Update
UPWS Changes
Effective with January 3, 2006 the new ICE format will deploy - should be no difference in operation as it is only a format change. The new International Patent Classification Reformed (8th Edition) will be viewable through ICE. Text paragraph numbering will match up with images. This feature facilitates linking text with the appropriate images.
Online Access Card Renewal and Security Badge Renewal
Diane Lewis explained online card access renewals. Online access cards have to be updated for public users by January 31, 2006. A grace period exists until February 13th. Detailed instructions are being developed at the time of the December Public User's Meeting.
USPTO Security officer, Augustia Stevens, provided an update on the need for public users to renew their security badges. On December 31st, yellow public user badges will expire. They should be turned in to the Security Office. The new badges will be good for one year.
A customer expressed displeasure concerning gaining access to USPTO campus. The yellow badge does not give unlimited access as was provided in Crystal City. Response was that USPTO Security has designed the system this way. The public will only have limited access to the Alexandria campus.
Late Opening/Early Closing Reminder
Closing on Christmas/New Year's - staying open until 8:00pm Monday through Friday other days. USPTO will close for inclement weather if federal government is closed. Go to OPM website for information on weather/emergency related closings. A public notice will be posted providing referrals for information.
Office of Public Records Updates
Amanda Putnam was introduced as new Acting Director of OPR.
A customer ordered IFW files but the order was declined because of a corrupt file. DSD is currently working to rectify the situation. The file can be viewed online but cannot be downloaded.
The meeting was adjourned at approximately 3:00pm.
Next meeting will be January 18, 2006 at 2:00 p.m. in the Remsen building, room 1D04. Please note building change.
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