Complex Work Units (CWU) Pilot at the USPTO

The PTO is seeking your help for a Complex Work Units Pilot Program being scheduled for the end of the year:

From the PTO:

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is seeking participants for a Complex Work Units (CWUs) Pilot Program scheduled for late 2007. CWUs are chemical structure drawings, mathematical formulae, protein crystal data, and table data, which often add significant complexity and cost to the examination and publication of patent applications in which they are contained.

The CWU Pilot Program will be conducted in an effort to:

• Investigate filing practice options for CWUs

• Gather information about existing CWU formats and their use in the Intellectual Property community

• Evaluate rule changes to allow applicants to submit CWU files

• Determine other acceptable file types

The pilot will allow applicants to submit original source files for CWUs through EFS-Web or on a CD, supplementing the traditionally-filed application parts. The CWU source file submissions will not be considered when calculating the application size fee, which will reduce the cost of filing for pilot participants.

The USPTO is requesting participants in an effort to gather more information about CWUs from the intellectual property community.

If you have any questions or would like to participate in CWU Pilot activities, please send an e-mail to cwupilotsupport@uspto.gov.