Proposing Areas 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 standard 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 one more. The Unleashing American Innovators Act of 2022 (UAIA) mandates creation of a Southeast Regional Workplace (SERO).  The USPTO is now in search of feedback on the place the workplace must be situated — and the methodology it ought to use in choosing 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 right down to 4 potential cities: Atlanta, Jacksonville, Miami, and Nashville.

In my feedback to the PTO, I might be together with the outcomes of this ballot: LinkedIn Poll.  Voting is open for just a few 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 conscious of their wants; and drive optimistic adjustments in these areas.  Concurrently, the Neighborhood Outreach Workplace goals to supply 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 by enhanced outreach to a broad spectrum of innovators together with underrepresented, rural, low-income, and pupil populations.
2. Enhance retention of numerous patent examiners and judges, bearing in mind financial, geographic, and demographic elements.
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 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 in search of feedback on its location as effectively.  The USPTO might be even be conducting a research to determine whether or not extra regional workplaces would profit US innovation.