Innovation Asset Blog

USPTO reveals three more satellite office locations

In perhaps the most concrete sign of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's renewed commitment to efficiency, the agency's first four satellite office destinations have now been confirmed. The previously announced Detroit office will be joined by sites in Dallas, Denver and California's fabled Silicon Valley.

"By expanding our operation outside of the Washington metropolitan area for the first time in our agency's 200-plus year history, we are taking unprecedented steps to recruit a diverse range of talented technical experts, creating new opportunities across the American workforce," USPTO director David Kappos explained. "These efforts, in conjunction with our ongoing implementation of the America Invents Act, are improving the effectiveness of our IP system and breathing new life into the innovation ecosystem."

The Detroit office will be the first to open, on July 13, and both Dallas and Denver can now consider themselves validated as emerging innovation hubs. But the majority of industry attention seems to be surrounding the Silicon Valley satellite office.

According to GigaOM, the patent examiners ultimately recruited to staff the California office will likely come from the region's deep talent pool of technologically savvy professionals, potentially helping mend recent rifts between the software and patent communities. Local attorney Fabio Marino suggested to the news source that having examiners work "shoulder-to-shoulder" with technology companies on a daily basis could trigger an important cultural shift within the USPTO.

Peter Ackerman

Peter Ackerman

Founder & CEO, Innovation Asset Group, Inc.