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This week, the United States Patent and Trademark Office
("USPTO") announced plans to open satellite offices in
Silicon Valley (San Jose), Denver, and Dallas. The three new
satellite offices will join the previously announced Detroit
satellite office as part of the USPTO's efforts to fulfill its
requirement to expand and modernize under the Leahy-Smith
America Invents Act of 2011. Notably, these satellite offices
mark the first expansion of the USPTO outside the Washington D.C.
metropolitan area since the USPTO was founded in 1802. The Detroit
satellite office is scheduled to open on July 13, 2012, and the
precise timelines and details for the three additional offices are
expected in the upcoming months.
One of the main goals of the satellite expansion is to reduce
the significant backlog of pending patent applications and the
average pendency for patent examination, which currently averages
approximately 34 months.1 Moreover, the satellite
offices will allow the USPTO to tap a previously unavailable pool
of technically trained individuals to train and develop as patent
examiners, particularly in the technology-rich Silicon Valley. For
inventors and applicants, the satellite offices present a greater
opportunity for direct interaction with examiners to advance
prosecution and increase the overall quality of examination. The
two Western satellite offices, Silicon Valley and Denver, will be
particularly significant for Californian innovators. In recent
years, California represented approximately 25% of the total
U.S.-originated patent applications at the USPTO.2 Of
that 25%, nearly 15% originated from the San Francisco-Silicon
Valley greater metropolitan area.3 The Silicon Valley
satellite office will join and strengthen the remarkable innovation
ecosystem that already includes world-class inventors, technology
companies, and universities.
Morrison & Foerster, with offices in San Francisco, Palo
Alto, and Denver, is well-positioned to assist our clients in
taking full advantage of the new satellite offices. More
information on the announced expansion may be found on the USPTO
website, available at http://www.uspto.gov/news/pr/2012/12-40.jsp.
Because of the generality of this update, the information
provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should
not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular
situations.
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