[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 37, Volume 1]
[Revised as of July 1, 1999]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 37CFR1.12]

[Page 19]
 
             TITLE 37--PATENTS, TRADEMARKS, AND COPYRIGHTS
 
    CHAPTER I--PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
 
PART 1--RULES OF PRACTICE IN PATENT CASES--Table of Contents
 
                      Subpart A--General Provisions
 
Sec. 1.12  Assignment records open to public inspection.

    (a)(1) Separate assignment records are maintained in the Patent and 
Trademark Office for patents and trademarks. The assignment records, 
relating to original or reissue patents, including digests and indexes, 
for assignments recorded on or after May 1, 1957, and assignment records 
relating to pending or abandoned trademark applications and to trademark 
registrations, for assignments recorded on or after January 1, 1955, are 
open to public inspection at the Patent and Trademark Office, and copies 
of those assignment records may be obtained upon request and payment of 
the fee set forth in Secs. 1.19 and 2.6 of this chapter.
    (2) All records of assignments of patents recorded before May 1, 
1957, and all records of trademark assignments recorded before January 
1, 1955, are maintained by the National Archives and Records 
Administration (NARA). The records are open to public inspection. 
Certified and uncertified copies of those assignment records are 
provided by NARA upon request and payment of the fees required by NARA.
    (b) Assignment records, digests, and indexes, relating to any 
pending or abandoned patent application are not available to the public. 
Copies of any such assignment records and information with respect 
thereto shall be obtainable only upon written authority of the applicant 
or applicant's assignee or attorney or agent or upon a showing that the 
person seeking such information is a bona fide prospective or actual 
purchaser, mortgagee, or licensee of such application, unless it shall 
be necessary to the proper conduct of business before the Office or as 
provided by these rules.
    (c) Any request by a member of the public seeking copies of any 
assignment records of any pending or abandoned patent application 
preserved in confidence under Sec. 1.14, or any information with respect 
thereto, must:
    (1) Be in the form of a petition accompanied by the petition fee set 
forth in Sec. 1.17(i); or
    (2) Include written authority granting access to the member of the 
public to the particular assignment records from the applicant or 
applicant's assignee or attorney or agent of record.
    (d) An order for a copy of an assignment or other document should 
identify the reel and frame number where the assignment or document is 
recorded. If a document is identified without specifying its correct 
reel and frame, an extra charge as set forth in Sec. 1.21(j) will be 
made for the time consumed in making a search for such assignment.


(35 U.S.C. 6; 15 U.S.C. 1113, 1123)

[47 FR 41272, Sept. 17, 1982, as amended at 54 FR 6900, Feb. 15, 1989; 
56 FR 65151, Dec. 13, 1991; 56 FR 66670, Dec. 24, 1991; 57 FR 29641, 
July 6, 1992; 60 FR 20221, Apr. 25, 1995; 61 FR 42802, Aug. 19, 1996]