Schlagwort-Archive: USPTO

USPTO to Hold Texas Regional Inventors Conference in Austin

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As announced in a press release the U.S. Department of Commerce’s United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will hold the Texas Regional Independent Inventors Conference on September 14-15, 2012 in the Thompson Conference Center located on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin. Co-hosted by Invent Now® and the University of Texas at Austin, the conference will provide inventors and innovators with education from intellectual property experts in their respective fields and practical advice from successful inventors.

Conference highlights include presentations, workshops, and one-on-one advisory sessions conducted by senior USPTO officials and others who will inform and answer questions about patents and trademarks. Presenters include:

  • Robert Metcalfe (2007 National Inventors Hall of Fame Inductee)
  • Karen C. Parker (Director and International Trade Specialist, Austin U.S. Export Assistance Center, U.S. Commercial Service-Austin, U.S. Dept. of Commerce)
  • John Calvert (Acting Associate Commissioner for Patents, USPTO Office of Innovation Development)
  • Elizabeth Dougherty (Director of Inventor Education, Outreach and Recognition, USPTO Office of Innovation Development)
  • Darnell Jayne (Supervisory Patent Examiner, USPTO Technology Center 3600)
  • Catherine Cain (Trademark Staff Attorney, USPTO)

Space is limited and registration is on a first-come, first-served basis. Learn more, including how to register, by visiting www.uspto.gov/Austin2012. If you have questions about the conference contact the USPTO’s Office of Innovation Development at 866-767-3848.

Four Regional U.S. Patent Offices To Speed Up the Patent Process

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The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced plans to open regional USPTO offices in or around Dallas, Texas, Denver, Colorado, and Silicon Valley, California. These offices are in addition to the already-announced first USPTO satellite office to open on July 13 in Detroit, Michigan. The four offices will function as hubs of innovation and creativity, helping protect and foster American innovation in the global marketplace, helping businesses cut through red tape, and creating new economic opportunities in each of the local communities.

The offices will help the USPTO attract talented IP experts throughout the country who will work closely with entrepreneurs to process patent applications, reduce the backlog of unexamined patents, and speed up the overall process, allowing businesses to move their innovation to market more quickly, and giving them more room to create new jobs.

Selection of the four sites was based upon a comprehensive analysis of criteria including geographical diversity, regional economic impact, ability to recruit and retain employees, and the ability to engage the intellectual property community.

The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act of 2011 (AIA), signed into law by President Obama in September, requires the USPTO to establish regional satellite locations as part of a larger effort to modernize the U.S. patent system over the next three years.

New Patent and Trademark Resource Center Now Open to the Public

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The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced in a press release that the University of New Hampshire School of Law Library, which was designated as the Concord Patent and Trademark Resource Center (PTRC) on January 30, 2012, is now open to serve the intellectual property (IP) needs of the public.

“PTRCs serve as the face of the USPTO on a local level and promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship that ensures that potential filers have the resources necessary to draw on for support as they begin their quest for commercial success with their intellectual property,” said Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO David Kappos. “We look forward to working with the University of New Hampshire School of Law, formerly Franklin Pierce Law Center, to better serve New Hampshire’s IP community.”

Currently, PTRC designated libraries can be found in 46 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. This network of more than 80 public, academic, state and special libraries assists a variety of customers including inventors, intellectual property attorneys/agents, business people, researchers, entrepreneurs, students and historians.

In addition to offering free electronic services and resources designed to support the intellectual property needs of local and state patrons, the Concord Patent and Trademark Resource Center will employ USPTO-trained librarians to provide customer assistance on the use of the agency’s patent and trademark databases and public seminars on intellectual property topics for novice and experienced users.

California leads the USA in innovation, or does it?

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Remember? We already told you about Utility patents. They are the most common patent type and a primary means of protecting intellectual property and technological innovation. IFI CLAIMS®Patent Services recently announced its top-50 ranking of global companies awarded the most U.S. utility patents in 2011. IBM remains in the first position, as it has for 19 years in a row, with a record of 6180 utility patents. Samsung trails second with 4894 and Canon replaces Microsoft in the third slot with 2821.

According to IFI, the USPTO issued 224.505 utility patents in 2011, an increase of two percent over 2010’s record breaking total. While preparing the 2011 Patent Intelligence and Technology Report, IFI analysts took a closer look at the 2011 US patent grants and in particular the location of the inventors named on these documents. Despite the obvious surge of Japanese, Korean, and Chinese companies in the Top 50 assignees, 50% of US patents in 2011 named US inventors.

Diving deeper into the US inventor information the IFI analysts could rank the States based on inventor data. In this case a patent is credited to a state if at least one of the patent’s inventors resides in the state. The top 10 states are shown below:

State
 2011 US Utility Patent Grants
California 32,715
Texas 9,407
New York 9,263
Massachusetts 7,106
Washington 5,737
New Jersey 5,583
Illinois 4,933
Pennsylvania 4,746
Michigan 4,644
Minnesota 4,609



As you see California is the clear leader with respect to the overall volume of patents accounting for 15% of the total number of US utility patents granted in 2011. However when you factor in population, IFI analysts find Vermont at the top of list along with Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The figure below shows a graph of the top 10 states by number of utility patents granted, and the number of patents granted per 100.000 residents.


So what exactly is going on in Vermont that accounts for its performance? The IFI analysts looked at the assignees and found IBM accounting for most of the patent activity. How come? IBM has a large facility in Burlington that designs and produces semiconductors.