The Federal Register, dated July 23, 2008 reminds patent practitioners that they cannot send technology abroad without proper licenses. As noted in a previous entry, many firms have been sending patent searches and patent application preparation work overseas, which the USPTO points out is improper without the appropriate licenses from the Bureau of Industry and Security at the Department of Commerce. Since any technology related to a U.S. patent application cannot be sent overseas, this would appear to include having searches performed overseas.

The notice further points out that the foreign filing license issued by the USPTO only covers sending technology abroad for the purpose of filing applications in foreign countries. Since the search and patent application preparation comes before the foreign filing license issuance, this would seem to be a moot point.