The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before
sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal
government site.
The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to
the official website and that any information you provide is
encrypted and transmitted securely.
Since the moment I was sworn in as Director of this great agency two years ago, I have been guided by the conviction that we must open the doors of opportunity in the innovation community to everyone, not just a select few. Only when every inventor and entrepreneur has an equal chance to bring their new ideas and products to the global marketplace, on a level playing field, does our nation truly thrive.
Today, based on the exceptional public feedback we’ve received, we announced our Inventorship Guidance for AI-Assisted Inventions in the Federal Register. The guidance, which is effective on February 13, 2024, provides instructions to examiners and stakeholders on how to determine whether the human contribution to an innovation is significant enough to qualify for a patent when artificial intelligence (AI) also contributed. The guidance embraces the use of AI in innovation and provides that AI-assisted inventions are not categorically unpatentable.
Since the start of my tenure as Director in spring 2022, protecting and enforcing intellectual property (IP) rights in China has been an essential part of our agency efforts to strengthen the global IP system. U.S. businesses operating in China regularly cite insufficient protection and enforcement of IP as a top concern, and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has placed China on its "priority watch" list for over a decade, detailing a long list of IP concerns reported by U.S. businesses operating in China.
As we announced in September, as part of our modernization efforts to provide more extensible technology and functionality, the EFS-Web and Private Patent Application Information Retrieval (Private PAIR) tools are being retired after their decades of use as electronic filing and application management systems for our Patents customers.
When I first began my tenure as Director in the spring of last year, I pledged to strongly advocate for the value of intellectual property (IP) and its protection. As we work throughout the world to strengthen the IP ecosystem through new laws, policies, practices and collaborations, I consider it an honor to also be an ambassador for IP, impressing upon those with great ideas – including our youth, women across the globe, and our military – the importance of protecting IP.
When it comes to artificial intelligence (AI), there is enormous potential for our country and for solving world problems — but there are significant risks as well. To shape the future of AI, we must act quickly, but also thoughtfully and with your input.
The Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS) has been a fixture of the USPTO's information technology portfolio for decades. Those of us in the trademark community have grown accustomed to it, and perhaps even grown fond of it over the years. Maybe you have field tags and design search codes memorized, and you can formulate complex search strings to pull up the exact mark you're looking for in a snap.
