United States Patent and Trademark Office OG Notices: 16 December 2003

                  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
October 2003:

Document Services                       Goal            Actual
                                                        Processing
                                                        Time
Certified Documents

Patent Applications-As-Filed             7 days          5 days
Patent Related File Wrappers            25 days         33 days*
Patent Copies                           10 days          5 days
Patent Assignments                      10 days          6 days
Trademark Applications-As-Filed          7 days          5 days
Trademark Related File Wrappers         25 days         13 days*
Trademark Assignments                   10 days          7 days
Trademark Registrations, Expedited       5 days          4 days
Trademark Registrations, Regular        14 days          6 days

Uncertified Documents

Patent Copies                            5 days          2 days
Plant Patents                            5 days          1 day
Patent Assignments                      10 days          3 days
Patent Related File Wrappers            25 days         41 days*
Trademark Copies                         5 days          3 days
Trademark Assignments                   10 days          2 days
Trademark Related File Wrappers         25 days         10 days*

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

During the month of October 2003, a total of 16,093 public orders
(23,786 copies) were filled and closed, or 5,143 orders more (594
copies less) than the FY-04 planning number of 10,950 orders (23,192
copies) to be closed for this month.

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

                        Goal            Actual
                                        Processing
                                        Time
Submission Method

Internet (EPS or eTAS)   2 days           1 day
Fax                      5 days           1 day
Paper                   30 days         158 days

The Assignment Services Division is currently mailing recordation
notices for paper documents received in the Office of Public Records on
May 27, 2003.

Customers are encouraged to file assignments via the Internet or
by fax. Information on howq to file assignments via the Internet can be
found at the USPTO Electronic Business Center website at
www.uspto.gov/ebc/indexebc.html. Fax submissions may be
made directly to Assignment Services Division at (703) 306-5995.
Information on the status of pending assignment recordations may be
obtained by calling (703) 308-9723 or 1 (800) 972-6382 (outside the
Washington, DC Metro area).

November 6, 2003                                                   TED PARR
                                         Director, Office of Public Records