Proposing Places for Southeast Regional Workplace

by Dennis Crouch

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

The statute requires that or not it’s situated in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, or Arkansas.  I’d routinely rule-out Virginia and North Carolina as too near the PTO HQ; and in addition rule-out Arkansas as too near the Dallas Workplace.  In my thoughts, I shortly narrowed issues all the way down to 4 potential cities: Atlanta, Jacksonville, Miami, and Nashville.

In my feedback to the PTO, I shall 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 providers to residents and inventors within the area; be extra attentive to their wants; and drive constructive modifications in these areas.  Concurrently, the Neighborhood Outreach Workplace goals to offer a platform for dialogue, bridging the hole between residents and the federal government. The statute units out 5 explicit issues:

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, bearing in mind financial, geographic, and demographic components.
3. Improve the recruitment course of to draw extra high-quality patent examiners.
4. Cut back the backlog of pending patent purposes.
5. Elevate the requirements of patent examination to make sure higher accuracy and high quality.

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