By Jeremy R. Kriegel
Jan. 27, 2011
On Dec. 16, 2010, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) announced plans to open the first satellite Patent & Trademark Office in Detroit, Mich. in 2011.
By leveraging the Midwest’s high concentration of scientists, engineers, leading research universities and registered patent practitioners, the USPTO hopes to better serve the patent applicant community and help reduce a backlog of more than 700,000 patent applications.
A satellite patent office has the potential to offer Midwest businesses many advantages, including:
Locally-Accessible Examiners Proficient in Technologies Germane to the Region
Many of the patent examiners housed in the satellite patent office will likely focus on technologies for which the region is best known: Mechanical inventions, such as for the auto industry and other manufacturing disciplines, agriculture, food processing, printing/publishing, medical devices and pharmaceuticals, as well as finance and insurance industries (for which the USPTO processes a high volume of business method patent applications).
Patent applicants and their representatives often meet in interviews with patent examiners to discuss pending applications. Interviews help both the applicant and the examiner better understand one another’s arguments and resolve disagreements as to patentability. The convenience of regional access to examiners handling patent applications in technology areas important to the Midwest could result in increased opportunities to personally interview examiners regarding pending patent applications. A successful interview can accelerate the grant of a patent.