The USPTO's Patent Examiner Technical Training Program (PETTP) is requesting voluntary assistance from technologists, scientists, engineers, and other experts from industry and academia to participate as guest lecturers and provide technical training and expertise to patent examiners regarding the state of the art.

Guest lecturers provide relevant, historic and current technical knowledge, including industry practices/standards in technological areas of interest. Guest lecturers must also have relevant technical knowledge and industry practices/standards in areas of technologies where such lectures would be beneficial.

Guest lecturers have the option of presenting a lecture in-person or virtually from their own location. In-person presentations can be made at our Alexandria, Virginia headquarters or at one of our regional offices in Dallas, TX, Denver, CO, Detroit, MI and San Jose, CA. Training delivered at each location will be broadcast to patent examiners across the entire USPTO.

PETTP is not intended as an opportunity for applicants to discuss pending applications with USPTO employees or to circumvent normal communication between applicants or applicants' representatives and USPTO employees. In addition, PETTP participants are not to provide advice or recommendations to the USPTO. The PETTP is envisioned only as an opportunity to provide patent examiners with necessary training from scientists and experts working directly in the various technologies throughout the USPTO.

For more information you may contact:

Examiner_Technical_Training@uspto.gov or view our PETTP flyer.

PETTP is now seeking presenters for several Technology Center Tech Fairs.  If you are interested in participating as a guest presenter, please submit an interest form.   Scheduled 2020 Tech Fairs for each Technology Center are provided below.

Please see list of topics that may be of interest to examiners. Additional topics may be proposed by guest volunteer lecturers and considered for presentation. 

Operating Procedures for Interested PETTP Participants

Policy Requests to participate in the PETTP are granted depending upon resources, training time available, and appropriateness of the topic suggested. For granted requests, audience size will vary.

View the Standard Operating Procedures for Interested Patent Examiner Technical Training Program Participants.

Invited Speaker Conflict of Interest Policy Statement

Prior to giving a presentation, all PETTP participants must sign the USPTO's Invited Speaker Conflict of Interest Policy Statement. In addition, PETTP presentations are sometimes recorded and made available to employees for viewing or listening at a later time.

View the Conflict of Interest Policy Statement.

Federal Register Notice

View the September 15, 2010 Federal Register notice (link is external) for the Patent Examiner Technical Training Program.

Sign-up Now to participate in PETTP.

The USPTO would like to thank the following organizations and their representatives who have participated in the Patent Examiner Technical Training Program. Their contributions ensure that patent examiners keep pace with the latest advancements in the state of the art across all disciplines. Their contributions also serve as a keen reminder that, by working together, we can build a stronger intellectual property system.

Inclusion on the lists of specific organizations, attorneys, law firms, individuals, or corporations does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the USPTO.

The Site Experience Education program provides commercial, industrial, and academic institutions, within the continental U.S., the opportunity to voluntarily host patent examiner technical site visits.  The USPTO funds all SEE travel costs for patent examiner visits to host organizations. 

To learn more, visit the Site Experience Education (SEE) Program page.

The Stakeholder Training on Examination Practice and Procedure program offers those interested training opportunities to better their understanding  of the examination process at the USPTO.  Training material used is derived from material developed for training patent examiners. 

To learn more visit the Stakeholder Training on Examination Practice and Procedure (STEPP) page.

Are you or your client interested in attending an online course of an examination topic?  Virtual Instructor Led Training (vILT) is designed to allow our stakeholders to be briefed on a variety of focused topics related to examination practice and procedure derived from recent training delivered to experienced USPTO examiners. The primary purpose of vILT is to provide a vehicle by which recently delivered examination training is shared with the external stakeholders. The interactive online format of vILT allows participants to remotely attend the training without the need to travel to USPTO locations.

To learn more, visit the Virtual Instructor Led Training (vILT) Program page.