Revision of Patent and Trademark Fees for Fiscal Year 1998

The Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) is amending the rules of practice in patent and trademark cases to adjust certain patent fee and trademark service fee amounts to reflect fluctuations in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and to recover costs of operation. EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 1997. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Matthew Lee by telephone at (703) 305- 8051, fax at (703) 305-8007, or by mail marked to his attention and addressed to the Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks, Office of Finance, Crystal Park 1, Suite 802, Washington, DC 20231. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This rule change is designed to adjust PTO fees in accordance with the applicable provisions of title 35, United States Code; section 31 of the Trademark (Lanham) Act of 1946 (15 U.S.C. 1113); and section 10101 of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 (as amended by section 8001 of Public Law 103-66), all as amended by the Patent and Trademark Office Authorization Act of 1991 (Pub. L. 102-204). When the ``Revision of Patent and Trademark Fees for Fiscal Year 1998'' was published as a proposed rule, the PTO assumed that the fee revisions would not become effective until after the ``1996 Changes to Patent Practice and Procedure'' (hereinafter ``Miscellaneous Changes''). See 61 FR 49819 (Sept. 23, 1996) (proposed Miscellaneous Changes rule). The changes proposed in the fee revision notice of proposed rulemaking have been modified to take into account that the fee revision rule will become effective before the Miscellaneous Changes rulemaking.