Within the USPTO Web site you will find a wealth of public information available at your fingertips. If the information you are seeking is already publicly available somewhere on the USPTO Web site, you will be able to review it on-line or download it for future use.

A great place to start is the General Info Page, which links to recent publications and reference materials, such as the MPEP and the TMEP, which you can obtain directly on-line at your convenience. From the General Info Page you can link to the USPTO Site Index.

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is a federal statute which affords any person the right to obtain federal agency records, unless the records (or a part of the records) are protected from disclosure by any of the nine exemptions contained in the law. On October 2, 1996, President Clinton signed into law the Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments of 1996 (E-FOIA, for short). E-FOIA will make it possible for you to have electronic access to the USPTO FOIA Reading Room, offering such information as Final Agency Decisions and our most frequently requested FOIA documents.

If you check all these resources for public information but you still don't see what you need, then you may consider filing a FOIA request. FOIA is a federal law which entitles you to any federal agency record as long as one of the FOIA exemptions does not apply. Only records within the USPTO's possession and control as of the date of receipt of a FOIA request will be searched. The links below will help you understand how the FOIA can be used to obtain information which is not otherwise publicly available.

Reference Guide:

• FOIA Exemptions
• FOIA Regulations
• Privacy Act Regulations
• FOIA Fees and Fee Waivers
• How to Submit a FOIA Request to the USPTO
• US Department of Commerce FOIA Home Page
• US Department of Justice, Office of Information and Privacy