Why doesn’t Public PAIR contain NPL images?
Response: Jay Lucas explained that a policy decision had been made to balance copyright concerns with USPTO’s obligation to provide complete certified copies. NPL will not be freely downloadable from Public PAIR but will be available in certified copies of the prosecution history provided by OPR. Question: What form does the certified copy have when ordered through Public PAIR? Response: Certified copies from IFW will be delivered on CD. Question: What do we do if a country refuses to accept priority documents CDs, as has happened with JPO? Response: OPR has been producing priority documents on CD for two years and we are working with other intellectual property offices toward complete acceptance of electronic documents. Should another office refuse to accept a CD they should be willing to accept a paper copy printed from the CD. If not, upon presentation of a notice of non-acceptance by another intellectual property office we will be willing in particular cases to provide a paper copy
