USPTO correction

[Julia Schult]

I made an error in my comments on the USPTO and why they can't do better
at putting their stuff out on the web.  I had forgotten or never quite
grokked that the USPTO does not recieve any money from Congress; they
are self-supporting.  In fact, according to the PTO staffer who
corrected me, the Congress regularly takes some of the USPTO's profits
for other government agencies!

I may be crazy, but it seems to me this is a stupid way for a country to
grant patents; it is in the best interests of the PTO to pass almost any
patent because they would then make more money.  Plus, if you take away
the money they have made, they can't A) hire more patent examiners or
give the ones they have more time per patent for review, and B) spend
money on "little extras" like converting TIFF to JPG or providing a
converter on the web.

I guess it is time to contact our congresspeople.  It is difficult to
write to someone about such a complicated issue, so I guess I'd suggest
limiting yourself to something like "Us information professionals want
people to have access to the information they need in a usable format,
so please make sure the US Patent and Trademark Office has the resources
it needs to make patents and trademarks available over the web in a
standard and common format.  Currently, patents are provided as .TIFF
files, which are difficult for most libraries to deal with.  We urge you
to provide support for the USPTO to provide patents in .JPG or .GIF
format instead."

Or should that be "We information professionals"?  ;-)

---Julia E. Schult
Access/Electronic Services Librarian
Elmira College
Jschult at elmira.edu