Status of Certification Services

   On November 28, 1995, the Office published an Official Gazette Notice
entitled "Temporary Suspension of At Cost Services for Orders for
Certified Copies" (1180 OG 121) to advise practitioners and the public
of delays in filling orders for certified copies of PTO documents. This
is an update of actual days to mail for orders filled during the month
of July 1997:

                                                                Actual
                                                                Calendar
                                                                Days
Certified Product                               Goal            to Mail

Patent Application-As-Filed, Expedited            7                4
Patent Application-As-Filed, Regular             17               11
Patent Related File Wrapper                      25               24
Patent Copy                                      10                4
Patent Assignments                               10                5

Trademark Application-As-Filed, Expedited         7                6
Trademark Application-As-Filed, Regular          17                9
Trademark Related File Wrapper                   25               28*
Trademark Assignments                            10                7
Trademark Registration, Expedited                 5                5
Trademark Registration, Regular                  14                7

* Includes turnaround times for files on official search and file
reconstruction.

Due to backlogs and varying availability of media, customers will not be
advised when orders are not delivered within the published goal periods.
However, customers will be advised if any unexpected delay in their
order has been identified. Customers should use the above actual days to
mail for each product as a guide as to when they can expect their
orders. In determining expected delivery times, the day an order is
received in the Office is calculated as "day zero." The next business
day is "day one."

Delivery of any specific copy will vary based on the availability of
scanned images, microfilm products, and/or file accessibility. On June
10, 1997, the Office published an Official Gazette Notice entitled
"Changes in Practice in Supplying Certified Copies and Filing Receipts"
(1199 OG 39) which advised customers who placed orders for certified
copies of patent applications-as-filed not to request them until the
official filing receipt is received; images and related bibliographic
data are not available to Certification Division until the filing
receipt is generated by the Office of Initial Patent Examination.
Customers are encouraged to fax orders for copies directly to
Certification Division at (703) 308-9759 and to pay by PTO Deposit
Account, MasterCard, or Visa. Information on the status of pending
orders may be obtained by calling (703) 308-9726 or 1 (800) 972-6382
(outside the Washington, DC Metro area), or via E-mail:
certdiv@uspto.gov.

July 31, 1997                                              WESLEY H. GEWEHR
                                              Administrator for Information
                                                              Dissemination