Survey of Registered Practitioners
in Patent Cases
The Office of Enrollment and Discipline (OED) will be
conducting a survey pursuant to 37 C.F.R. 10.11(b) of the active
registered practitioners. The purpose of the survey is to ascertain
whether the practitioners desire to remain on the register. The United
States Patent and Trademark Office benefits from the survey by
obtaining confirmation that OED's records regarding each practitioner's
address and telephone number are correct, or by receiving updated
information. In the past, the survey has prompted some individuals to
advise OED of the deaths of other practitioners.
At the present time, there are more than 25,000 active
registered practitioners. A register of all active registered
practitioners, also called the roster, is found on the Office web site
at www.uspto.gov/dcom/olia/oed/roster/index.html. This survey will
not be conducted of the entire roster of 25,000 active
registered practitioners at one time. Instead, the survey is being
conducted of ten percent of the active registered practitioners at a
time. It is expected that the survey will occur twice each year, and
that the entire active register will be surveyed in five years.
A survey letter will be mailed on October 24, 2001, to active
registered practitioners whose registrations numbers are 20,893 through
26,305, inclusive. Enclosed with the survey letter will be a blue Data
Sheet, which practitioners must complete and return to OED within
thirty days of October 24, 2001. The survey will be mailed to the
address on the roster. This is the last address for which the Director
of Enrollment and Discipline received separate notice.
Practitioners can determine if they should receive a survey
letter and Data Sheet by checking the roster on the Office web site. A
practitioner on the roster with a registration number within the range
from 20,893 through 26,305, should receive the survey letter and blue
Data Sheet by November 1, 2001, if the practitioner receives mail at
the address on the roster. If a practitioner does not receive the survey
by November 1, 2001, the practitioner should contact LouWilda Turner or
Shirley (Rasheed) Brown via mail addressed to the Commissioner of
Patents and Trademarks, Box OED, Washington, D.C. 20231, or via e-mail
addressed to Louwilda.Turner@uspto.gov or Shirley.Rasheed@uspto.gov.
A practitioner on the roster with a registration number from
20,893 through 26,305 who no longer receives mail at the address listed
in the roster must provide the new address to receive the survey letter
and blue Data Sheet. Please contact LouWilda Turner or Shirley (Rasheed)
Brown at the foregoing addresses.
The name and address of any practitioner failing to reply and
give any information requested by the Director within the 30-day time
limit specified will be published in the Official Gazette. A further
30-day opportunity will be given to respond and provide the requested
information. Thereafter, the names of practitioners failing to reply and
give the requested information will be removed from the register and
the names of individuals so removed will be published in the Official
Gazette. The name of any individual so removed may be reinstated on the
register as may be appropriate and upon payment of the fee set forth in
37 CFR 1.21(a)(3).
If an individual's name is not on the roster, and the
individual's registration number is within the range from 20,893
through 26,305, the individual's name has been endorsed as inactive on
the roster. Individuals whose names are endorsed as inactive include
those who failed to reply to previous surveys, or requested to be
removed from the roster, as well as individuals employed by the
Office. No survey will be sent to these individuals.
Practitioners having a registration number higher than 26,305,
are not in the current survey. Accordingly, it is not necessary for them
to call or advise OED that they did not receive the survey.A survey
will be sent to them in the future.
HARRY I. MOATZ
Director of Enrollment and Discipline