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Area Development - Site Selection, Facility Planning and Workforce Development

U.S. Patent Office To Open Dallas Branch, Where Second Highest Number of Patents Are filed

07/05/2012
The US Patent and Trademark Office will open one of its four satellite branches in Dallas, Texas, in a region that sees the second highest number of patents filed in the nation.

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison said this is very good news for the Dallas area and for Texas. Our state is home to a wealth of inventors and innovators and it is very important that they have direct access to a regional Patent Trade Office. It will mean new innovations can move more quickly through the patent approval process and therefore more quickly to market. I pushed for this regional office after hearing from countless stakeholders who stressed the importance of a PTO satellite presence to the local economy."

"The establishment of this office in Texas helps maintain our strength as one of the most important economic centers in the southwest region of the United States. The regional PTO will help boost research and technology development, spur cutting-edge businesses and create jobs," she added.

TechNet, a bipartisan policy and political network of CEOs that promotes economic growth, praised the choice of Dallas-Forth Worth for a regional branch of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

"Texas is key to serving our nation's business innovators and leaders, with the second greatest number of US-origin patents, trailing only California," said Geoff Wurzel, Executive Director of TechNet Southwest. "I applaud the addition of a Dallas-Fort Worth regional branch of the PTO by the Administration. Among a surge of patent applications, this will speed up the process and go a long way toward making critical patent services accessible to its customers.

San Jose's Silicon Valley, California, along with Denver, Colorado and Detroit, Michigan were also chosen as sites for its new regional offices.

The four offices will help businesses cut through red tape, and create new economic opportunities in each of the local communities, Patent and Trademark officials said. The offices will help the USPTO attract talented IP experts throughout the country who will work closely with entrepreneurs to process patent applications, reduce the backlog of unexamined patents, and speed up the overall process. It will allow businesses to move their innovation to market more quickly, and giving them more room to create new jobs.

"By expanding our operation outside of the Washington metropolitan area for the first time in our agency's 200-plus year history, we are taking unprecedented steps to recruit a diverse range of talented technical experts, creating new opportunities across the American workforce," said David Kappos, Director of the USPTO.

Selection of the four sites was based upon a comprehensive analysis of criteria, including; geographical diversity, regional economic impact, an ability to recruit and retain employees, and the ability to engage the intellectual property community. The USPTO team plans to begin site procurement and establish a timeline for the three newly-announced locations in the coming months. The first office, which will open in Detroit, Michigan, is expected to employ about 120 individuals in its first year.

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