The Journal of the Patent and Trademark Office Society (the "Journal" or "JPTOS") is the oldest and longest running publication focused on intellectual property in the United States. The origins of the Journal can be traced as far back to the early 1900s, where an Examiner named Charles Ward Mortimer (b. 1880) initially compiled the "Patent Office Papers", otherwise and later referred to as  the "Mortimer Papers."

The Mortimer Papers compiled articles, speeches and practice guides from Examiners published as early as 1914. Many of them were first initially read out loud as speeches "before the Examining Corps of the United States Patent Office" as indicated by the below cover page:

As can also be seen by the below "List of Papers", the articles in the Mortimer Papers covered topics that are considered timely or even cutting-edge by Patent Examiners today, e.g., classification, business methods, allowance/abandonment, restriction practice, double patenting, novelty, new matter, and much more.

The below "Subject Index" also presents a view into the sheer breadth of issues covered with just the "A" topics alone - abandonments, actions after final, affidavits, allowances, amendments, appeals, and so on.

The practice of compiling articles into The Mortimer Papers lasted until 1918, when the very first issue - Volume One, Issue One - was published in September of 1918 under the leadership and guidance of George P. Tucker, the Journal's very first Editor in Chief. Tucker managed a team of editors comprising J. Boyle, A.W. Davidson, and W.I. Wyman, with E.D. Sewall serving as the Chairman of the Publicity Committee - perhaps equivalent to the JPTOS Executive Director or PTOS President today - and also with W.J. Wesseler taking the position of the Business Manager, the equivalent of the JPTOS Executive Director and Financial Director in modern times.

After this first issue and in the seventy-one year period spanning from 1918-1989, a period of time progressing through two World Wars, the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, the Vietnam War, the Korean War, the Civil Rights Movement, and the 1970s as well as  the 1980s, the Journal consistently published twelve issues every volume, every year.

In 1990, for Volume 72, thirteen issues in a single volume were published for the first time. Afterwards, from 1991 (Volume 73) to 2002 (Volume 84), the twelve-issue pattern was resumed until 2003, Volume 85, where another thirteen-issue volume was published. The Journal continued to publish twelve-issue volumes from 2004, Volume 86, to 2006, Volume 88. From 2007, Volume 89 to 2008, Volume 90, two eleven-issue volumes were printed, and in 2009, Volume 91 was released with eight issues. From 2010 or Volume 92 onwards, four issues were published every volume, which is the current practice the Journal observes today.