Intellectual Property » PTO Expanding Silicon Valley Office In 2014

PTO Expanding Silicon Valley Office In 2014

November 19, 2013

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A Silicon Valley outpost for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office will be built in downtown San Jose, the Commerce Department has announced. The search for an office location was postponed due to sequestration, but the USPTO said help from the City of San Jose, the California State Assembly Speaker’s office, as well as the influence of the California Congressional delegation will allow the new permanent location to be completed and operational by the end of 2014. An office director and nine Patent Trial and Appeal Board judges have been working out of temporary office space in Menlo Park, Calif. since 2013.

“A permanent USPTO office in Silicon Valley will help grow the regional innovation ecosystem by empowering entrepreneurs to more readily navigate the nation’s intellectual property system,” Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker said. “The permanent satellite offices help advance the Commerce Department’s innovation agenda by helping entrepreneurs get their products to market more quickly, provide resources tailored to the needs of local start-ups, and create good paying, high-skilled jobs.”

The San Jose City Hall location will provide space for patent examiners and PTAB judges, an examiner training facility, and public hearing rooms for PTAB proceedings, including its trial proceedings. The USPTO said it plans to staff the permanent office with at least 60 patent examiner hires and approximately 20 PTAB judges in its first year of operation.

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