Proposing Areas for Southeast Regional Workplace

by Dennis Crouch

The USPTO started establishing satellite tv for pc workplaces a decade in the past to increase past the normal Alexandria (Washington DC) headquarters.  We now have workplaces in Detroit, Dallas, Denver, and San Jose. Final 12 months, Congress voted to additional increase the decentralization by at the least yet another. The Unleashing American Innovators Act of 2022 (UAIA) mandates creation of a Southeast Regional Workplace (SERO).  The USPTO is now looking for feedback on the place the workplace needs to be positioned — and the methodology it ought to use in deciding on a location.  [Fed Reg].

The statute requires that it’s positioned in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, or Arkansas.  I’d mechanically rule-out Virginia and North Carolina as too near the PTO HQ; and likewise rule-out Arkansas as too near the Dallas Workplace.  In my thoughts, I rapidly narrowed issues all the way down to 4 potential cities: Atlanta, Jacksonville, Miami, and Nashville.

In my feedback to the PTO, I can be together with the outcomes of this ballot: LinkedIn Poll.  Voting is open for a couple of extra days.  Atlanta is presently within the lead.

The core goal right here is to is to ship higher companies to residents and inventors within the area; be extra attentive to their wants; and drive constructive modifications in these areas.  Concurrently, the Group Outreach Workplace goals to offer a platform for dialogue, bridging the hole between residents and the federal government. The statute units out 5 specific concerns:

1. Strengthen connections between the Workplace and patent filers via enhanced outreach to a broad spectrum of innovators together with underrepresented, rural, low-income, and scholar populations.
2. Enhance retention of numerous patent examiners and judges, taking into consideration financial, geographic, and demographic components.
3. Improve the recruitment course of to draw extra high-quality patent examiners.
4. Scale back the backlog of pending patent functions.
5. Elevate the requirements of patent examination to make sure larger accuracy and high quality.

Along with the brand new Southeast Regional Workplace, the PTO has additionally been tasked with opening a “Northern New England Group Outreach Workplace (NNECOO)” and the PTO is looking for feedback on its location as effectively.  The USPTO can be even be conducting a examine to establish whether or not extra regional workplaces would profit US innovation.