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Thursday Jul 13, 2017

Elijah J. McCoy Midwest Regional U.S. Patent and Trademark Office – 5 Years Supporting Innovation

Blog by Joe Matal, Performing the Functions and Duties of the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO, and Christal Sheppard, Director of the Midwest Regional Office

When the USPTO set out to open regional offices, our goals were to create hubs of innovation and creativity, protect and foster American innovation in the global marketplace, help businesses cut through red tape, and create hundreds of jobs in the local communities. As we celebrate Detroit’s 5 year anniversary today, we’re happy to report that we’ve done just that.

The Elijah J. McCoy Midwest Regional Office in Detroit led the way as our first regional office. A variety of factors led us to choose Detroit, including an international border, multiple world class universities where we could recruit patent examiners, an economy that had seen its share of hardship, and a creative and innovative environment. Not long after the Midwest Regional Office opened, we followed up with three more regional offices, in Denver, San Jose, and Dallas. 

Elijah J. McCoy Midwest Regional U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Elijah J. McCoy Midwest Regional U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Since opening in 2012, the Midwest Regional Office has granted more than 10,000 patents, and outreach efforts have reached nearly 37,500 members of our community. We are especially proud of the outreach to educators and students, which have allowed us to hold innovation challenges and help incorporate science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education and intellectual property concepts into classrooms. We’ve worked to cut through red tape, enabling inventors and small businesses to walk into any of the four regional offices, use the public search facility, and easily get their questions answered. In addition, intellectual property practitioners can conduct examiner interviews or participate in Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) hearings either in person or remotely using video conferencing. 

Regional offices enable us to receive input from a greater cross-section of our community, including inventors, innovators, and entrepreneurs in a variety of industries and technologies. This is essential if we are to best serve our customers and promote American innovation across all geographic regions in the country. 

Our regional offices also provide jobs for the local community. Currently, there are 102 employees in the Midwest Regional Office, which include eight classes of examiners, as well as PTAB judges, outreach officer, and support staff. And if you add in employees of the other regional offices, the total is over 400 employees bringing the resources of the USPTO to the public. Additionally, since the regional offices provide training and services to our nationwide workforce, we are able to save time and resources as employees do not have to return to our headquarters as frequently.

Amazing things are happening in Detroit, and we are proud of the important role that the USPTO is playing in the revival of this great American city. It’s been especially exciting to see how we’ve been able to connect with small businesses and individual inventors and make an impact in the community. Here’s to another 5 years, and beyond.

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