WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) - The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s newest satellite office is set to open in Texas next fall, officials say.
Michelle K. Lee, the deputy under secretary and deputy director of the PTO, said in a blog post this month that its Dallas-Fort Worth office will be located in the Terminal Annex Federal Building in downtown Dallas.
The office is centrally located, affordable and “well-suited” for the PTO’s needs, officials have said.
According to the PTO, the goal is to have 100 examiners and 20 administrative patent judges, as well as several support staff, on site in Dallas by the end of the first year of operation.
Lee said currently the PTO is looking for a regional director. He or she would be responsible for general oversight of the office.
“We’re looking for the best and brightest candidates to assist businesses throughout the state with the challenges of navigating an IP system, and work with Texas’s burgeoning technology sectors such as the clean tech, semiconductor and biosciences industries,” she wrote.
The application deadline for the position is Jan. 10. Lee said she anticipates a regional director will be selected ahead of the office’s opening.
The PTO’s first satellite office, in Detroit, opened in July 2012. In June, another satellite office in Denver opened.
Also set to open next year is the West Coast office’s permanent location in San Jose City Hall. The office, which has been operating out of Menlo Park, Calif., since 2012, “remains on track” to open in the spring, Lee said.
“In an era where our stakeholders’ businesses are rapidly evolving and the intellectual property landscape is constantly adapting to new and emergent technologies, it’s important to ensure the U.S. PTO can engage effectively with communities, industries and innovators,” Lee wrote.
“That’s why we’ve expanded our footprint across the country, offering services at the doorsteps of entrepreneurs, and addressing challenges particular industries are facing.”
She continued, “Our satellite offices play a crucial role in these efforts, assisting inventors, entrepreneurs and small businesses in their respective regions, while supporting our core mission of fostering American innovation and competitiveness.”
From Legal Newsline: Reach Jessica Karmasek by email at patents@legalnewsline.com.