Action:
The Trademark Operation initiated changes to examining
attorney requirements in order to implement an e-Government work place.
Background Information:
The current Performance Appraisal Plan (PAP) for examining
attorneys in the Trademark Operation was negotiated and implemented in
1997. It
did not contemplate any of the changes to the duties of an examining attorney
that would come about in an e-Government work place. The current PAP envisions
an examining process in which examining attorneys examine using paper file
wrappers and communicate using letters or using the telephone. In the current
process, electronic systems are primarily used for searching, tracking files
and production and for drafting correspondence to be mailed to the applicant. Furthermore,
the PAP does not take into account the current goals of the Office nor of
the increased tools that would be available to management in measuring and
monitoring the performance of employees. Managers must typically use cumbersome
and inefficient methods, entailing physically locating and inspecting large
numbers of files. Given the new process demands that will arise with the
increasing use of automated systems to assist in examination and to provide
electronic applications to the examiner, the Office entered into negotiations
with NTEU 245 to implement a new PAP for examining attorneys.
Action Taken:
An agreement was signed with NTEU 245 in
November 2002 whereby discussions of a new PAP for fiscal year 2003
were discontinued in exchange for a signed agreement whereby Trademark examining
attorneys must use all electronic examination tools and communicate
electronically
with applicants whenever possible.
Within the current performance plan, the
following e-commerce provisions now apply:
1. The
attorney advisor examines applications in all international classes.
2. For
all responses received electronically, the attorney advisor reviews the
response and approves or disapproves the entry of proposed amendments.
3. The
attorney advisor makes available in electronic form copies of all Office
actions issued.
4. For
all applications approved for publication, the attorney advisor reviews
the electronic record of the application for the accuracy and completeness
of all data, including discrepancies between
the electronic and paper records, and corrects, or provides instruction
for correction of, all errors and discrepancies.
5. For all applications in which the
applicant has properly authorized the Office to communicate via e-mail,
the attorney advisor sends Office actions using e-mail.
6. The
attorney advisor provides in all written correspondence e-mail addresses,
fax numbers and a phone number for formal and informal communications.
While changes to the monitoring and measurement of performance are beneficial,
the
e-Government related changes are the most crucial ones. Adapting examination
procedures to an electronic environment is crucial so that the e-Government
initiatives (Pendency 1 (T-01) and e-Government 1 (T-02)) will be effectively
implemented within the Trademark Examining Operation. The e-commerce
agreement now makes it unnecessary to negotiate these issues in a separate
format,
allowing the Office to move forward in the implementation of full
electronic processing in fiscal 2003.
A new performance plan may be proposed at a later date related to e-Government initiatives that
will be implemented in fiscal 2004.
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