Advancing the Role of Trademarks
Guest blog by Commissioner for Trademarks Deborah S. Cohn
For the last two years the USPTO’s Trademarks team has actively engaged the private sector in developing pro bono and educational outreach programs. The primary goal of these programs is to offer the best possible intellectual property (IP) guidance and training to all of our stakeholders. These efforts follow the USPTO publication in April 2011 of a congressionally-mandated report outlining the extent to which trademark litigation harms small businesses. That report outlined steps the USPTO could take to better educate the public and stakeholders with resources enabling small businesses to further their understanding of trademark basics, enforcement measures, and available tools for protecting and enforcing trademark rights.
We have contacted bar associations in all fifty states to encourage the development of pro bono programs. The USPTO also launched a new trademark educational outreach program geared to general audiences that normally would not have easy access to such information, including non-trademark attorneys, the small business community, the entrepreneurial community, and students. In addition to these trademark-specific programs, the USPTO also conducts other programs designed to educate the public more broadly about intellectual property rights.
For several years, the USPTO has partnered with law schools across the country in an effort to provide pro bono services to trademark and patent applicants through student clinic programs under the supervision of licensed attorneys. In 2012, we dramatically increased the number of participating schools and therefore our reach into the community with these programs. We recently had the pleasure of welcoming to our headquarters more than 55 law students and faculty participating in our innovative Law School Clinic Certification Pilot Program. Visitors heard presentations from a wide range of USPTO personnel, including Acting Director Teresa Stanek Rea, attorneys from the Office of the Solicitor, and administrative trademark judges from the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB).
The USPTO has also hosted a Trademark Expo for a number of years. These well-attended events combined seminars and exhibits to engage the public on trademarks and their importance. We have also published a significantly improved Basic Facts Booklet and produced a series of educational videos, all of which are easily accessible at www.uspto.gov.
We remain committed to advancing the registration of trademarks and understanding their role. As always, we welcome your feedback and suggestions on how we can improve our trademark educational outreach efforts. Simply email a comment to our dedicated mailbox, TMFeedback@uspto.gov. We look forward to hearing from you.
Posted at 07:32AM May 30, 2013 in trademarks |