UAIA frequently asked questions

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) intends to staff the ROs so that the statutory purposes of the Unleashing American Innovators Act (UAIA) of 2022 can be carried out, including providing experienced and likely new positions to support stakeholder outreach to innovators, small businesses, veterans, low-income populations, students, rural populations, and any geographic group of innovators that may be determined to be underrepresented in patent filings.

The USPTO welcomes public comments and input as outlined in the Request for Comments as to the services, including outreach, education, customer service, convening space, and employee support that should be offered by the ROs to achieve the statutory purpose of the UAIA.

The services of the Southeast Regional Office (SERO), and any future ROs, will likely mirror the services of the four existing ROs, including providing intellectual property education and outreach to stakeholders, strategically collaborating with other organizations to expand the innovation ecosphere, promoting entrepreneurship and innovation, and supporting inventors and entrepreneurs in their intellectual property and business endeavors through individual meetings, workshops, trainings, conferences, and roundtable discussions. The ROs will also continue to provide public convening spaces, opportunities to engage with United States Patent and Trademark Personnel (USPTO) in-person and virtually to learn about available resources, discuss matters pending before the USPTO, and participate in hearings and other proceedings.

The USPTO welcomes public comments and input as outlined in the Request for Comments as to the services, including outreach, education, customer service, convening space, and employee support that should be offered by the ROs to achieve the statutory purpose of the Unleashing American Innovators Act (UAIA) of 2022.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office will be considering locations in the southeast region to establish the Southeast Regional Office (SERO). The Unleashing American Innovators Act (UAIA) of 2022 defines the southeast region to include the states of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas.

Similar to the process for selecting the regional offices established by the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA), selection of the Southeast Regional Office (SERO) will be determined using publicly available datasets to empirically align potential locations with statutory requirements of the Unleashing American Innovators Act (UAIA) of 2022. Such datasets may include, but are not limited to, business demographics, socioeconomic and demographic metrics, the concentration of research and other industries with intellectual property or related assets, and the type and availability of existing business development resources. Using the noted datasets and public comments received in the Request for Comments, the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO shall determine the location for the SERO.

In accordance with the requirements for the Unleashing American Innovators Act (UAIA) of 2022, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) shall establish the SERO no later than three years after the enactment of the UAIA. Therefore, the SERO will be established no later than December 29, 2025.

The timeline for establishing the SERO is independent of the timeline for establishing the community outreach offices COOs. In accordance with the requirements for the UAIA, the USPTO shall establish no fewer than four COOs no later than five years after the enactment of the UAIA. Therefore, all four COOs will be established by no later than December 29, 2027.