Office of Public Records
Public User’s Meeting
May 19, 2004

The Public User’s Meeting was held at 2:00pm in the Patents Theater, Crystal Park 2, 2121 Crystal Drive, Room 200, Arlington, VA. Martha Sneed, Office of Public Information Services Director, chaired the meeting. There were approximately ten members of the public in attendance and nine USPTO staff. USPTO staff in attendance were: Martha Sneed, Tom Koontz, Ron Sussman, Mike Bevenour, Marilyn Ricks-Beach, Rhonda Nicol, Pat Brecht, Jeff Lavikoff and Doris Chaney.

Announcements

· The OPR customer service phones will close at 5:00pm instead of 8:00pm on June 4th for a system upgrade.
· The mailbox address for Public Search Facility issues mentioned at the last meeting is not yet available When it becomes available updated information will be provided.
· John Hassett will hold a public meeting June 1st and address move plans for South Tower and other FIU questions from the public.
· The Trademark Search Library is beginning to relocate contractors and information resources within current space in order to prepare for FIU build out starting in early June. FIU first phase will be ready in late July.
· The OIPE customer service window will move to the Randolph building in Alexandria when that building opens. This will probably take place some time between September – October. Notices will be posted when the exact dates have been determined. OIPE, however, will move to South Tower as previously established. There will be no OIPE customer service window in South Tower.
· A situation in which the air conditioning in the search room was cutting off at 6:00pm even though the search room is open later has been resolved. Air conditioning will be available until closing.

Question: Any plans to improve search capability on the PTO website? Use Boolean logic? Will there be more functionality, compatibility, etc to enhance patent searches on the web?
Response:We will look into and get back on this question.

Question:Will customers have the same access for assignment searches using the TRAM/PALM terminals in the new space? Public believes there is different information in the TRAM/PALM assignment information than in the Assignment Historical Database.
Response:Martha Sneed asked to have specific problems and concerns sent to the electronic mailbox regarding TRAM and we will provide additional information at the next meeting.

Question:Will color printing be available in the Trademarks Search Library?
Response:Yes, but the date was still unknown (NOTE: Color printing was activated on 5/20/04).

Tom Koontz, from Patents, addressed IFW quality control issues. Mr. Koontz explained the process of indexing and scanning. He explained that the image quality rests mainly on the condition of the documents received for processing. The paper files are boxed after processing is completed. Questions addressed were:

· How does the system sort the documents?
· Will documents print in chronological order?
· Do the documents come up in order when examined? The documents come up in the order in which they are scanned.
· How to identify more than one amendment? They are sorted by date.

Customers are encouraged to submit their customer number for the correspondence address. The public was encouraged to sign up for private pair by going to the EBC website or calling toll free (866) 217-9197.

Question: What is the procedure when a customer calls with problem – such as whole application is skewed in IFW?
Response: Mr. Koontz explained that the file will be pulled from the box and checked. A request may have to be made for replacement pages to be submitted.

Question: Will IFW files be available in PDF?
Response: Yes.

Ron Sussman, from Trademarks, spoke on TICRS quality control.
Mr. Sussman went through the general processes for the public from sorting, indexing and scanning of the documents into the database. The public asked questions concerning determining document type since that is used as a sorting criteria by the indexers. Questions were asked concerning weeding out duplicates created during scanning and problems with missing documents. Mr. Sussman asked customers to e-mail their questions and concerns to him and he would forward them to the appropriate areas to be addressed.

Question: Do the examiners see the same images that the customers see?
Response: Yes.

Question: Will TICRS be available on the USPTO website?
Response: Mr. Sussman indicated that it has been discussed but nothing has been acted on. It will probably happen in the future but no date has been set.

The meeting wrapped up at 3:00pm.

KEY: =online business system =fees =forms=help =laws/regulations =definition (glossary)

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