Lapas attēli
PDF
ePub

in these classified patents, it is possible to determine, before actually filing an application, whether an invention has been anticipated by a United States patent, and it is also possible to obtain the information contained in the patents relating to any field of endeavor.

Attached to the search room is a record room in which the public may inspect the records and files of issued patents and such other records as may be open to their inspection. The record room contains a set of United States patents arranged in numerical order, in bound volumes, and a complete set of the Official Gazette.

Parties and their attorneys or agents may examine their own cases in the record room and public records may be examined in the record room, search room, or library, as the case may be. Parties, their attorneys or agents, and the general public are not entitled to use the records and files in the examiners' rooms.

The Scientific Library, search room and record room are in immediate charge of the librarian.

The search room and Scientific Library are open during office hours from 8:30 a. m. to 5 p. m. on work days, and in addition, the search room is open evenings from 5 p. m. to 9 p. m. on work days, and on Saturdays from 8:30 a. m. to 12:30 p. m.

O. APPLICATION BRANCH. The Application Branch receives, records and acknowledges all applications for patents when they are filed. Upon receipt of an application, the papers are scrutinized to see if the application is complete in all its parts and complies with certain formal requirements. If the papers are not sufficiently complete to be accepted as an application for patent, the applicant is notified of the deficiencies and the papers are held for completion. If it is complete, the application (the papers being placed in a jacket or file) is given a serial number and filing date, indexed, and (after the drawing has been inspected by the Drafting Branch) sent to the particular Examining Division having charge of the subject matter of the application.

P. ASSIGNMENT BRANCH. The Assignment Branch receives and records all assignments transferring property rights in patents and trademarks, and applications for the same. After the assignments are recorded, they are returned to the senders. The Branch also makes searches of the titles of patents and trademarks and furnishes abstracts of titles. Digests and indexes are made of all assignments in order to facilitate title searches. These are available to the public. The Assignment Branch also maintains a Register of Government Interests in Patents for the use of the Government but part of this register is available to public inspection.

Q. CORRESPONDENCE AND MAIL BRANCH. The Correspondence and Mail Branch opens and distributes all official mail and sees to it that all remittances are deposited with the finance officer. It has custody of the general correspondence not relating to particular applications

for patents. Some routine inquiries are answered by circular letter sent out by this branch.

R. DOCKET BRANCH. The Docket Branch has custody of patent and trademark dockets for the Commissioners, the files in interference cases except when they are in use by the examiners, and papers in cases appealed to the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals. Papers filed in such cases go to the docket clerk who enters them and is responsible for their custody and distribution. This Branch also handles correspondence relating to the revocation of powers of attorney or authorization of agents.

S. DRAFTING BRANCH. The Drafting Branch inspects the drawings accompanying applications for patents and for registration of trademarks to insure compliance with the formal rules relating to drawings and minimum standards of execution. It also prepares new drawings from sketches or models when ordered by an applicant, and makes corrections in drawings on file.

T. ISSUE AND GAZETTE BRANCH. This Branch has the duty of attending to the details of issuing the patents after the applications have been allowed by the examiner. It prepares the specifications for printing and supervises the printing which is done at the Government Printing Office. It also prepares the drawings for photolithographing and supervises this work. It takes care of the numbering, dating, indexing, and recording of patents when granted, and prepares and mails the formal grants. The same work is done in the case of trademark registrations. The preparation for printing of the Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office with its indexes, the annual volumes of Decisions of the Commissioner of Patents, and other publications, are also functions of this Branch. U. MANUSCRIPT AND LITHOGRAPHIC BRANCH. The Manuscript and Lithographic Branch has charge of furnishing to the public copies of records of the Patent Office. It makes photographic copies of records, books, patents, etc., and also typewritten copies of manuscripts. It also prepares certified copies of patents and other papers to be authenticated under the seal of the Patent Office.

V. PATENT COPY SALES BRANCH. This Branch has charge of the storage and sale of printed copies of patents and trademark registrations. It also handles the sale of special publications prepared and distributed by the Patent Office.

W. PUBLICATIONS OF THE PATENT OFFICE. (a) Patents. The specification and accompanying drawings of all patents are published on the day they are granted and copies are sold to the public by the Patent Office. The specifications are initially printed at the Government Printing Office and the drawings photolithographed by contractors. When the first edition is exhausted, reproductions are made by photolithography.

(b) Trademarks. Copies of trademark registrations are also printed and sold by the Patent Office.

(c) Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office. The Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office is the official journal relating to patents and trademarks. It has been published weekly since January 1872 (replacing the old Patent Office Reports), and is now issued each Tuesday, simultaneously with the weekly issue of the patents. It contains a claim and a selected figure of the drawings of each patent granted on that day, an illustration of each trademark published for opposition, a list of trademarks registered, and other trademark information; decisions in patent and trademark cases rendered by the courts and the Patent Office; notices of patent and trademark suits; indexes of patents and patentees; disclaimers filed; lists of patents available for licensing or sale; and much general information such as orders, notices, changes in rules, changes in classification, etc.

The Official Gazette is sold, by annual subscription and in single copies, by the Superintendent of Documents. The pages containing the decisions and other information, and those containing trademark material, are separately stitched and may be purchased independently of the remainder of the Gazette.

(d) Annual Index. The annual index to the Official Gazette contains alphabetical indexes of the names of patentees, the names of trademark registrants, and the disclaimers filed, during the calendar year. Copies are sold by the Superintendent of Documents. At present it is issued in two volumes, one for patents and one for trademarks.

(e) Decisions of the Commissioner of Patents. There is issued annually a volume republishing the decisions which have been published weekly in the Official Gazette. Copies are sold by the Superintendent of Documents.

(f) Manual of Classification. The present manual of classification is a loose-leaf book containing a list of all the classes and subclasses of inventions in the Patent Office classification of patents, a subject matter index, and other information relating to classification. Substitute pages are issued from time to time. The manual and subscriptions for the substitute pages are sold by the Superintendent of Documents.

(g) Classification Bulletins. The various changes and advances in classification made from time to time are collected and published in bulletins which give these changes as well as the definitions of new and revised classes and subclasses. These bulletins are sold by the Superintendent of Documents as well as by the Patent Office.

(h) Patent Laws. A compilation of the patent laws in force, revised editions are published from time to time.

(i) Rules of Practice of the United States Patent Office. This publication contains the rules governing the procedure in the Patent Office, which have been adopted by the Commissioner under the authority of the patent statutes and approved by the Secretary of Commerce, and supplementary material including forms.

(j) Rules of Practice in Trademark Cases With Forms and Statutes. This publication combines in pamphlet form the Rules of Practice in Trademark Cases and the Federal trademark statute.

(k) General Information Concerning Patents. This pamphlet is designed for the layman and contains a large amount of general information concerning the granting of patents expressed in nontechnical language. Single copies are distributed by the Commissioner free on request.

(1) General Information About Protection of Trademarks. This pamphlet serves the same purpose with reference to trademarks as the preceding does concerning patents.

(m) Roster of Attorneys and Agents Registered to Practice Before the U. S. Patent Office. This pamphlet contains a list, alphabetically and geographically, of all persons and firms registered to practice before the Patent Office.

(n) Guide for Patent Draftsmen. This pamphlet contains illustrative material which may be helpful in preparing drawings for patent applications.

(0) Other Publications. The publications listed are those published regularly and currently, those no longer published and those only issued on occasion not being listed. Circulars of information on particular subjects are also issued to answer particular inquiries.

X. RECORDS AND INFORMATION. Applications for patent are not open to the public and information concerning them is not given except on authority of the applicant, or when necessary to the conduct of the business of the Office. Patents and trademark registrations and the records relating to the same including any decisions therein, the records of assignments, books and other records and papers in the Office are open to the public and may be inspected in the Patent Office or copies may be ordered. The Office cannot respond to inquiries. concerning the novelty and patentability of an invention or the registrability of a trademark in advance of the filing of an application, nor advise of the propriety of filing an application, nor respond to inquiries as to whether any alleged invention has been patented or trademark registered, and, if so, to whom, nor can the Office act as an expounder of the patent law nor as counsellor for individuals, except in deciding questions arising before it. Information of a general nature may be furnished either directly or by supplying or calling attention to an appropriate publication.

Y. OUTLINE OF PROCEDURE IN OBTAINING PATENTS. (a) The obtaining of a patent is initiated by the filing of an application in the Patent Office. The application includes a complete description of the invention, claims defining the invention, a drawing in each case admitting of a drawing, an oath, and a filing fee, and must comply with various requirements. The application must be made by the inventor with the papers signed and the oath sworn to by him (unless he is dead or insane). Legal representatives of deceased inventors and of those under legal incapacity may make application for patent upon compliance with the requirements and on the same terms and conditions applicable to the inventor. The application is forwarded to the appropriate Examining Division where, when its turn is reached, it is examined. The application is studied and a search is made through all prior United States patents, and also through patents of foreign countries and publications to find out if the invention is new. A decision is reached, in the light of the study and the results of the search, as to the patentability of the invention or the claims presented and also as to various formal matters. The decision is communicated to the applicant. If adverse, the applicant may ask for reconsideration with or without amending. The application is then re-examined and reconsidered and the result again communicated to the applicant. Further reconsideration of the application may be given.

(b) If the final decision of the examiner is adverse to the granting of a patent, or any of the claims presented, the applicant may appeal to the Board of Appeals and is entitled to an oral hearing. From the decision of the Board of Appeals an appeal may be taken to the United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals or a civil action may be brought against the Commissioner in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Matters of form and procedure may be reviewed on petition to the Commissioner.

(c) The various responses and actions which an applicant may take are governed by time limits fixed by or under the statute and rules and an application is abandoned by failure to reply or take appropriate action within the specified time. An abandoned application may be revived as a pending application by the Commissioner if the delay was unavoidable.

(d) If there are two or more applications for a patent for the same invention, an interference proceeding to determine who is the prior inventor and entitled to the patent is instituted by the examiner, who also decides certain preliminary questions relating to the interference. An interference may also be declared between a pending application and an unexpired patent under certain conditions. The question of priority of invention is determined by a board of three Examiners of Interference and their decision is reviewable by the courts, either by

[blocks in formation]
« iepriekšējāTurpināt »