Status of Office of Public Records Services


   The Office of Public Records (OPR) processes and fills orders
for both certified and uncertified copies of Patent and Trademark
Office documents and records assignments and other documents related to
title. This is an update of actual processing times during the month of
February 2001:


Document Services                                Goal            Actual
                                                                 Processing
                                                                 Time

Certified Documents

Patent Applications-As-Filed,
   Expedited                                   7 days               9 days
Patent Applications-As-Filed,
   Regular                                    17 days              16 days
Patent Related File Wrappers                  25 days              58 days*
Patent Copies                                 10 days              13 days
Patent Assignments                            10 days              13 days
Trademark Applications-As-Filed,
   Expedited                                   7 days               7 days
Trademark Applications-As-Filed,
   Regular                                    17 days              15 days
Trademark Related File Wrappers               25 days              30 days*
Trademark Assignments                         10 days              13 days
Trademark Registrations,
   Expedited                                   5 days               9 days
Trademark Registrations,
   Regular                                    14 days              12 days

Uncertified Documents

Expedited Patent Copies                        1 day                2 days
Regular Patent Copies                          5 days              11 days
Plant Patents                                  5 days               8 days
Patent Assignments                            10 days               9 days
Patent Related File Wrappers                  25 days              31 days*
Expedited Trademark Copies                     1 day                6 days
Regular Trademark Copies                       5 days               7 days
Trademark Assignments                         10 days              17 days
Trademark Related File Wrappers               25 days              27 days*


*Includes turnaround times for files on Official Search and
File Reconstruction.

During the month of April 2001, a total of 17,618 public orders
(29,056 copies) were filled and closed, or 3,821 orders more (9,500
copies less) than the FY-01 planning number of 13,797 orders (38,556
copies) to be closed for this month.

The office's Order Entry Management System (OEMS) was updated on
March 11, 2001, to accept orders for new products associated with the
publication of patent applications. The new software still has a number
of technical problems that are being analyzed and resolved. As a
result, there have been, and will continue to be, delays in processing
and filling those orders submitted after Thursday, March 8, 2001.

Please do not submit "follow-up" or duplicate copies of
orders. Customers should use the above actual processing
time for each product as a guide as to when they can expect their
orders to be completed. In cases where an urgent deadline
is approaching, contact OPR Customer Service at (703) 308-9726 or
1(800) 972-6382 for assistance with a particular order.

Customers are encouraged to fax orders for copies directly to the
Document Services Division at (703) 308-9759 and to pay by PTO Deposit
Account, MasterCard, Visa, American Express or Discover. Copy orders
also may be placed through the Internet by accessing the PTO home page
at www.uspto.gov and selecting the "Order Copies" option. 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:
dsd@uspto.gov.


Assignment Services


The Assignment Division is currently mailing recordation notices
for documents received in the Office of Public Records on February 16,
2001. The cycle time to process, record, and mail notices is 69
calendar days.

May 7, 2001                                                   PATRICK ROWE,
                                                                   Director
                                                   Office of Public Records