Public Records Division/Public Information Services Division
Public User’s Meeting
August 16, 2006
2:00 p.m. - Remsen Building Conference Center

The Public User's Meeting was held at 2:00 p.m. in the 1st floor conference room 1D04/1D14 of the Remsen Building on the USPTO campus in Alexandria, Virginia. Martha Sneed, Director of PISD, chaired the meeting. There were approximately 6 members of the public in attendance.

Announcements

• Susan White, the new Director for the Office of Trademark Services, was introduced. She will be attending the Public User Meetings for Trademarks.
• The Public Search Facility (PSF) Customer Satisfaction survey is underway in both search facility locations.

PSF Updates

Diane Lewis updated the users on the construction schedule. 1st phase of construction -- pre-stairwell construction had to shut down 24 UPWS workstations temporarily. Information updates will be posted on the PSF bulletin boards to keep users abreast of changes impacting them during construction. PSF staff will also do face-to-face alerts for particular users on certain workstations in order to give them a "heads-up" if they are going to be impacted by the construction.

Doug Salser talked about a glitch encountered on Monday with PubEAST. The database was looking for a file not generated. A fix was found for that problem. An update is set for August 28 on first floor workstations. He also reminded users to please make use of Beta workstations to help work out/identify any glitches with upgrades.

On other concerns, the UPWS staff informs the public about upgrades to the application software packages in advance and sets up beta tests of those applications. Regarding bolding, a user can elect to bold keywords that will show up in the text; there is no examiner requirement to bold patent numbers in the text. Finally, a user can refresh a single search or refresh all searches by right mouse clicking on the search and selecting "refresh".

Questions: One customer asked for a list of what foreign patents are available at the USPTO. The question will be relayed to STIC and a list provided.

PRD Updates

Document Services status on certified copy requests of US PCT documents -- Marilyn Ricks-Beach stated that an agreement was worked out with the appropriate Patent source regarding timelier delivery of files to Document Services. As of this week, 49 files have been sent to Document Services for processing.

The meeting adjourned at 2:25pm.

Next meeting is on September 20, 2006 at 2:00pm in Remsen Conference Center room 1D04/1D14.

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

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