USPTO officials and government and university leaders from Michigan look on as acting Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank cuts ribbon for the USPTO's new Detroit satellite office. | USPTO photo by Tim Callahan.
Posted on 07/19/2012 5:39:02 PM PDT by fishtank
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Opens First-Ever Satellite Office in Detroit, Michigan Acting U.S. Commerce Secretary Blank and Patent Office Director Kappos Participated in Ribbon-Cutting for Facility to Help Speed Up Patent Process and Create Local Jobs
DETROIT – Acting U.S. Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank and Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) David Kappos, along with elected officials, today participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially open the Elijah J. McCoy USPTO in Detroit, Michigan – the first-ever Patent and Trademark Office outside of Washington, DC. The new office is the first to open out of four recently-announced USPTO satellite offices that will function as hubs of innovation and creativity, helping protect and foster American innovation in the global marketplace, helping businesses cut through red tape, and creating hundreds of highly-skilled jobs in each of the local communities.
(More at link)
(Excerpt) Read more at uspto.gov ...
DETROIT – Acting U.S. Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank and Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) David Kappos, along with elected officials, today participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially open the Elijah J. McCoy USPTO in Detroit, Michigan – the first-ever Patent and Trademark Office outside of Washington, DC. The new office is the first to open out of four recently-announced USPTO satellite offices that will function as hubs of innovation and creativity, helping protect and foster American innovation in the global marketplace, helping businesses cut through red tape, and creating hundreds of highly-skilled jobs in each of the local communities.
“Patents are the fuel for American innovation,” said Acting Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank. “By opening the doors to America’s first-ever satellite patent office in Detroit, we are going to put more patents in the hands of entrepreneurs throughout this region and across the country. The McCoy office will make America’s patent system stronger, empowering America’s innovators to attract capital, put their business plans into action, and create more good jobs for the middle class.”
While in Detroit, Acting Secretary Blank and Under Secretary Kappos also toured the new facility, met with Mayor Dave Bing, members of Michigan’s Congressional delegation, including U.S. Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, U.S. Representatives John Dingell, John Conyers, Jr., Gary Peters, and Hansen Clarke, local businesses and entrepreneurs, and swore-in the office’s first seven USPTO Board Judges who will review patents and help speed up the patent process. In addition to the judges, approximately 25 patent examiners and other staff begin work on Monday, July 16.
“Today’s expansion into Detroit fuels a new 21st-century innovation era for our country,” said Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property (IP) and USPTO Director David Kappos. “The USPTO’s Elijah J. McCoy Office brings our nation’s innovation agency to the doorsteps of Michigan’s inventors and entrepreneurs, while also spurring new opportunity, growth, and jobs. That’s what this Office represents and that’s what the Motor City has always been about.”
The Detroit USPTO will create approximately 120 highly-skilled jobs in its first year of operations alone. The IP experts in the office will work closely with entrepreneurs and help further reduce the backlog of patent applications and appeals. Reducing the backlog of patents and simultaneously speeding up the process will allow businesses to move their innovation to market more quickly, saving critical time and resources.
Patents are vital for businesses to get funding to bring a product to market, and they are a major factor in private-sector job creation. In fact, Commerce recently issued a report finding that IP-intensive industries are the source – directly or indirectly – of 40 million jobs, contributing $5.06 trillion to the U.S. economy in 2010. Not only will these offices help businesses grow and create jobs with far greater ease, but they also will help to strengthen American competitiveness and build a more robust economy.
Selection of the four sites was based upon a comprehensive analysis of criteria including geographical diversity, regional economic impact, potential ability to recruit and retain employees, ability to engage the intellectual property community, and extensive public comment. The Detroit area is home to Fortune 500 companies, large law firms, and outstanding research institutions, and boasts a low cost of living and skilled talent pool.
The Detroit satellite office, located in a building that is listed on the National Historic Registry, is a 31,000 square foot space at 300 River Place Drive. The USPTO is beginning site procurement activity for the three additional locations and is working to develop concept of operations based on the Detroit model over the coming months and years. The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act of 2011 (AIA), signed into law by President Obama in September, requires the USPTO to establish satellite locations as part of a larger effort to modernize the U.S. patent system by September 2014.
For additional background on the selection criteria and methodology, visit http://www.uspto.gov/news/Satellite_Selection_-_One_Pager_-_FINAL.pdf.
For non-press inquiries pertaining to the satellite site selection, please contact USPTO Deputy Chief of Staff Azam Khan at azam.khan@uspto.gov.
Stay current with the USPTO by subscribing to receive email updates at our Subscription Center at www.uspto.gov/subscribe.
USPTO officials and government and university leaders from Michigan look on as acting Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank cuts ribbon for the USPTO's new Detroit satellite office. | USPTO photo by Tim Callahan.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office announces historic satellite office expansion to Dallas, Denver and Silicon Valley areas.
FT's comment: But Detroit is the FIRST satellite office???
Here is an “Inventor City” search on the number of patents since 1976 for the four new satellite cities:
San Jose, CA = 75006 patents
Dallas TX = 18258 patents
Denver CO = 6093 patents
Detroit MI = 2657 patents
Seems that I’ve read that Canadian inventors often apply for patents here. There’s also a fair amount of innovation that comes out of the universities, hospitals and industry in the Midwest.
A year or so back some guy in Detroit came up with some kind of flash steel hardening process that will be worth billions.
US Population Density map ....
A Midwest location DOES make sense for a USPTO office, but .... Detroit ????
Is there a worse location?
I am thinking all 2657 were issued a lot closer to 1976 than 2012 also.
That’s right across the street from the GM HQ and the Marriott Rennaisance. Go two blocks back between those buildings and it starts to look like hell.
Outside the downtown area it goes ghetto pretty quickly but that isn’t exactly uncommon in many American cities.
It would be interesting to see time lines for those patents, say, 1980 through the present.
I’ll hazard a guess and say Detroit’s looks like an upside down hockey stick.
They’d just heard of some interesting new inventions from some guy named Henry Ford. Thanks cripplecreek.
I stayed at the Marriott when we were there for the Indy/Grand-Am races. Being that as a member of a large team, it was usually easier to walk to establishments close to the hotels, We walked up the street between the buildings in that first picture, and wow! I chose to eat in the hotel instead of venturing out again on foot.
We drove back from the team vehicle lot for Belle Island through the old warehouse area just south of the address you show in the picture. Actually, it seemed like everything south of Campeau St. to the GM HQ was very sad looking, mostly deserted. The parking lot on Jefferson at the island bridge looked like a big lot over gown by weeds, but closer inspection showed this was once a paved parking lot.
I used to work with a guy who invented a method of high speed printing on the open page end of books for labeling sections and chapters etc. I think he had to go to the east coast for his patent. It took several years and by then the world had moved on and he didn’t get crap.
I think that happens enough to discourage a lot of good ideas. I’ve worked with some seriously smart people in Michigan factories. My neighbor is like that with industrial machinery, electrical engineering, pneumatics, hydrolic etc.
Cheap land... you can buy a whole block for $500 in some sections.
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