On July 11, 2003, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office waived the requirement for submitting copies of citied U.S. patents and patent application publications with Information Disclosure Statements. This waiver applied to patent applications filed after June 30, 2003.
The waiver can be found here:
http://www.patentsusa.com/20030730_IDS_Without_Copies.pdf
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office had previously eliminated the need for patent copies only if an Information Disclosure Statement was filed using the Electronic Filing System. Adoption of early versions of the patent electronic filing system was very low because early versions were very complex, requiring installation and understanding of two software programs called ePave and ABX. The trademark electronic filing system, in contrast, was web-based and very easy to use at this time. The current electronic filing system for patents is quite straightforward and easy to use.
