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. A survey of the entire
roster of 25,000 active registered practitioners will not
be conducted at one time. Instead, the survey of ten per cent of the
active registered practitioners is being conducted at a time. It is
expected that a survey will occur twice each year, and that the entire
active register will be surveyed over a five-year period. 

On April 24, 2001, a survey letter will be mailed to active
registered practitioners whose registrations numbers are 12,379 through
20,892, inclusive. Enclosed with the survey letter will be a blue Data
Sheet, which practitioners must be complete and return to OED within
thirty days of April 24, 2001. The survey will be mailed to the address
on the roster. This is the last address for which the Director of OED
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 12,379 through 20,892, whose current mailing address is on the
roster, should receive the survey letter and blue Data Sheet by May 1,
2001. If a practitioner does not receive the survey by May 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
12,379 through 20,892 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 12,379
through 20,892, 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 20,892,
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. 

March 29, 2001                                               HARRY I. MOATZ
                              Director, Office of Enrollment and Discipline