[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 37, Volume 1]
[Revised as of July 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 37CFR102.28]

[Page 409-410]
 
              TITLE 37--PATENTS, TRADEMARKS, AND COPYRIGHTS
 
  CHAPTER I--UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE, DEPARTMENT OF 
                                COMMERCE
 
PART 102--DISCLOSURE OF GOVERNMENT INFORMATION--Table of Contents
 
                         Subpart B--Privacy Act
 
Sec. 102.28  Review of requests for correction or amendment.

    (a)(1)(i) Not later than ten working days (i.e., excluding 
Saturdays, Sundays and legal public holidays) after receipt of a request 
to correct or amend a record, the Privacy Officer shall send an 
acknowledgment providing an estimate of time within which action will be 
taken on the request and asking for such further information as may be 
necessary to process the request. The estimate of time may take into 
account unusual circumstances as described in Sec. 102.25(a). No 
acknowledgment will be sent if the request can be reviewed, processed, 
and the individual notified of the results of review (either compliance 
or denial) within the ten working days. Requests filed in person will be 
acknowledged in writing at the time submitted.
    (ii) If the Privacy Officer fails to send the acknowledgment within 
ten working days, as provided in paragraph (a)(1)(i) of this section, 
the requester may ask the General Counsel to take corrective action. No 
failure of the Privacy Officer to send an acknowledgment shall confer 
administrative finality for purposes of judicial review.
    (2) Promptly after acknowledging receipt of a request, or after 
receiving such further information as might have been requested, or 
after arriving at a decision within the ten working days, the Privacy 
Officer shall either:
    (i) Make the requested correction or amendment and advise the 
individual in writing of such action, providing either a copy of the 
corrected or amended record or a statement as to the means whereby the 
correction or amendment was effected in cases where a copy cannot be 
provided (for example, erasure of information from a record maintained 
only in magnetically recorded computer files); or
    (ii) Inform the individual in writing that his or her request is 
denied and provide the following information:
    (A) The Privacy Officer's name and title or position;
    (B) The date of the denial;
    (C) The reasons for the denial, including citation to the 
appropriate sections of the Act and this subpart; and

[[Page 410]]

    (D) The procedures for appeal of the denial as set forth in Sec. 
102.29, including the address of the General Counsel.
    (3) The term promptly in this section means within thirty working 
days (i.e., excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal public holidays). If 
the Privacy Officer cannot make the determination within thirty working 
days, the individual will be advised in writing of the reason therefor 
and of the estimated date by which the determination will be made.
    (b) Whenever an individual's record is corrected or amended pursuant 
to a request by that individual, the Privacy Officer shall be 
responsible for notifying all persons and agencies to which the 
corrected or amended portion of the record had been disclosed prior to 
its correction or amendment, if an accounting of such disclosure 
required by the Act was made. The notification shall require a recipient 
agency maintaining the record to acknowledge receipt of the 
notification, to correct or amend the record, and to apprise any agency 
or person to which it had disclosed the record of the substance of the 
correction or amendment.
    (c) The following criteria will be considered by the Privacy Officer 
in reviewing a request for correction or amendment:
    (1) The sufficiency of the evidence submitted by the individual;
    (2) The factual accuracy of the information;
    (3) The relevance and necessity of the information in terms of 
purpose for which it was collected;
    (4) The timeliness and currency of the information in light of the 
purpose for which it was collected;
    (5) The completeness of the information in terms of the purpose for 
which it was collected;
    (6) The degree of risk that denial of the request could unfairly 
result in determinations adverse to the individual;
    (7) The character of the record sought to be corrected or amended; 
and
    (8) The propriety and feasibility of complying with the specific 
means of correction or amendment requested by the individual.
    (d) USPTO will not undertake to gather evidence for the individual, 
but does reserve the right to verify the evidence which the individual 
submits.
    (e) Correction or amendment of a record requested by an individual 
will be denied only upon a determination by the Privacy Officer that:
    (1) The individual has failed to establish, by a preponderance of 
the evidence, the propriety of the correction or amendment in light of 
the criteria set forth in paragraph (c) of this section;
    (2) The record sought to be corrected or amended is part of the 
official record in a terminated judicial, quasi-judicial, or quasi-
legislative proceeding to which the individual was a party or 
participant;
    (3) The information in the record sought to be corrected or amended, 
or the record sought to be corrected or amended, is the subject of a 
pending judicial, quasi-judicial, or quasi-legislative proceeding to 
which the individual is a party or participant;
    (4) The correction or amendment would violate a duly enacted statute 
or promulgated regulation; or
    (5) The individual has unreasonably failed to comply with the 
procedural requirements of this part.
    (f) If a request is partially granted and partially denied, the 
Privacy Officer shall follow the appropriate procedures of this section 
as to the records within the grant and the records within the denial.