Annual Technical Report 2002 on Trademark Information Activities submitted by United States of America (SCIT/ATR/TM/2002/US)
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I. Evolution of registration activities
In calendar year 2002, the USPTO received 212,971 applications for the registration of a trademark including 264,053 classes. Application filings, as measured by classes filed, decreased 7.3 percent over prior year results, following a decline of 23 percent in calendar year 2001. In the first six months of calendar year 2003, application filings were 132,258, nearly identical to the same period one year prior. Trademark application filings are projected to be 266,000 classes by calendar year end. In fiscal year 2004 and 2005, growth in application filings are projected to increase between 2 and 5 percent annually. In fiscal year 2002, when filings in the U.S. dropped nearly 13 percent, filings of applications in service classes declined 19 percent, while international goods classes sustained an overall drop of more than 7 percent.
The USPTO issued 146,864 certificates of registration including 184,020 classes in calendar year 2002. This represented an increase of 35 percent from the prior year in the number of marks registered. The increase in registrations reflects the large number of pending applications that were still under examination from the prior two and three years when filings increased by more than 20 percent each year.
II. Matters concerning the generation, reproduction, and distribution of secondary sources of trademark information, i.e., trademark gazettes
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The USPTO extracts text and image data to generate the weekly publication of the electronic (made available from the USPTO web site) and paper copies of the Official Gazette and registration certificates. The textual elements of these publication products are exported from the Office’s central database along with the designs (figurative elements) which are extracted from a database of digitized images, automatically inserted into the layout and forwarded electronically to the publisher, the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), as a Postscript file. This process results in the fully automated formatting of the Official Gazette and registration certificates. Improvements realized include increased economy and reduced publication time – thus allowing for closer quality review of the products prior to publication. Additional reductions in process time are expected in the near future, as this process possesses the potential to reduce overall cycle time and enable new means of distribution.
Main types of announcements of the Office in the field of trademark information
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The Office collects 100% of all new application data via a scanning process (for paper filed applications) and in various formats (including image and XML) for electronically filed applications. Images of all new applications and subsequent correspondence are available electronically at the desktop of the staff within the Office and working from home. The contents of the older paper files are being captured on an on-going basis.
Word processing and office automation
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As described above, the Office had automated its photocomposition process. Previously, the Office extracted all character data from the central database and manually included the design elements, the process now performs fully automatic layout of character and image data. The Office employs 3B2 for layout and continues to use the US Government Printing Office for production printing.
III. Matters concerning classifying, reclassifying and indexing of trademark information
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The USPTO currently uses a system for indexing the figurative elements of design marks that is based on the Vienna Classification System. The USPTO uses the three levels of classifications for all designs in the database for applications and registrations. These design codes are maintained within the automated databases and are used to support searching design marks within the Office’s search databases (both the internal search system (X-search) and the database made available on the Internet (TESS)).
The USPTO currently uses the Nice Classification system for classification of goods and services. The USPTO uses three additional classes, i.e., 200 for collective marks and “A” and “B” for certification marks. Other than this deviation, the USPTO applies Nice classifications to all goods and services.
Use of electronic classification systems to check the classification symbols furnished by an applicant and which are contained in the lists of goods and/or services
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As described above, the USPTO continues to support two automated trademark search systems. X-Search for all internal trademark searching requirements and limited access to the public and TESS which is accessed via the Internet at the www.uspto.gov site.
External databases
External resources are used for specific search requirements. Included is Lexus/Nexus and certain CD-ROM based search database such as Computer Select and McCarthy/LawDesk. Additionally, the Internet is available to all Examining Attorneys for reference.
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The USPTO has a rich environment of equipment supporting Trademark operations. The TRAM system runs on a UNISYS A series mainframe; MS Windows and HP-UX servers support other systems. A complete description of technical resources used is included in the USPTO Technical Reference Manual, which can be located at: http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/cio/cio-docs.htm
VI. Administration of trademark services available to the public (relating to facilities, e.g., for lodging applications, registering trademarks, assisting clients with search procedures, obtaining official publications and registry extracts)
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The USPTO provides valuable resources on the Internet to assist our customers. There is an electronic filing facility (TEAS) that allows for the completion payment and submission of new applications online. TESS provides a quality information retrieval facility to search for marks that are within our database. TARR provides up-to-date data on applications and registration, including the current status and prosecution history. In addition, there are various other offerings including manuals used by examiners that explain various aspects of the USPTO and the trademark system. Visit us at: http://www.uspto.gov
VII. Matters concerning mutual exchange of trademark documentation and information
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The USPTO offers a variety of machine-readable products from the trademark databases. A catalog of products can be found at the following address: http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/catalog/index.html
US trademark information is provided to 102 intellectual property offices on optical disc products (mostly in DVD-ROM format).
VIII. Matters concerning education and training including technical assistance to developing countries
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IX. Other relevant matters