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The United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO or USPTO) is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that provides patent protection to inventors and businesses for their inventions, and trademark registration for product and intellectual property identification.
The USPTO is currently based in Alexandria, Virginia, after a 2006 move from the Crystal City area of Arlington, Virginia. Since 1991, the office has been fully funded by fees charged for processing patents and trademarks. The current head of the USPTO is Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property Jon W. Dudas, who was nominated to the position by President George W. Bush in March 2004 and was then appointed on July 30, 2004.
The USPTO cooperates with the European Patent Office (EPO) and the Japan Patent Office (JPO) pursuant to trilateral agreements. The USPTO is also a Receiving Office, an International Searching Authority and an International Preliminary Examination Authority for international patent applications filed in accordance with the Patent Cooperation Treaty.
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The mission of the PTO is to promote "industrial and technological progress in the United States and strengthen the national economy" by:
At the end of 2006, the PTO had 8,189 employees, nearly all of whom are based at its huge five-building headquarters complex in Alexandria. Of those, 4,883 were patent examiners and 413 were trademark examiners; the rest are support staff.USPTO Performance and Accountability Report Fiscal Year 2006 Patent examiners are generally scientists and engineers who do not necessarily hold law degrees, while all trademark examiners must be licensed attorneys. All examiners work under a strict quota system.
In recent years, the USPTO has seen increasing delays between when a patent application is filed and when it issues. To address its workload challenges, the USPTO has undertaken an aggressive program of hiring and recruitment. In Fiscal Year 2006 (year ending September 30, 2006), the USPTO hired 1,193 new patent examiners. USPTO Annual Report 2006, Patent Performance The USPTO expects to continue hiring patent examiners at a rate of 1,200 per year from 2007 through 2012.
In 2006, USPTO also instituted a new training program for patent examiners called the "Patent Examiner Training Academy." It is an eight-month program designed to teach new patent examiners the fundamentals of patent law, practice and examination procedure in a college-style environment.USPTO Annual Report 2006, The Nature of the Training Provided to USPTO Examiners.
Each year, Congress "diverts" about 10% of the fees that the USPTO has collected into the general treasury of the United States. In effect, this takes money collected from the patent system to use for the general budget. This fee diversion is generally opposed by patent practitioners (e.g patent attorneys and patent agents), inventors, and the USPTO.United States Patent and Trademark Office (February 2, 2004). "President\'s proposed budget ends USPTO fee diversion in FY 2005". Press release. Retrieved on 2006-11-24. These stakeholders would rather use the funds to improve the patent office and patent system, such as by implementing the USPTO\'s 21st Century Strategic Plan.Strategic Plan for the 21st Century. United States Patent and Trademark Office (February 24, 2006). Retrieved on 2006-11-24.
First US patent
The USPTO examines applications for trademark registration. If approved, the trademarks are registered on either the Principal Register or the Supplemental Register, depending upon whether the mark meets the appropriate distinctiveness criteria. However, this function is declining in popularity as trademark applicants move to cheaper, more straightforward state-by-state registrations. State Trademark Information. FindLaw For Small Business (February 11, 2008). Retrieved on 2008-02-11. Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS). United States Patent and Trademark Office (February 11, 2008). Retrieved on 2008-02-11. Note: click on "Trademarks" then click on "TESS" tab.
The PTO only allows certain qualified persons to practice before the PTO. Practice includes filing of patent applications on behalf of inventors, prosecuting patent applications on behalf of inventors, and participating in administrative appeals and other proceedings before the PTO examiners and boards. The PTO sets its own standards for who may practice and requires that any person who practices become registered. A USPTO-registered non-attorney professional is called a patent agent and a USPTO-registered attorney is called a patent attorney.
In order to become registered to practice before the USPTO, an applicant must demonstrate to the USPTO\'s satisfaction certain scientific and technical competencies (such as having a science or engineering degree) and then pass a difficult USPTO-administered patent bar exam called the USPTO registration examination. This bar exam covers the voluminous regulations and procedures that govern USPTO practice. The registration process is managed by the USPTO\'s Office of Enrollment & Discipline (OED).OED Mission. United States Patent and Trademark Office (June 21, 2006). Retrieved on 2006-11-24. Note: the original link location appears to no longer be available.
Individual inventors may file and prosecute patent applications by themselves by a process of pro se patent filing. The inventor is not required to be represented by a registered patent attorney or patent agent. If it appears to a patent examiner that an inventor filing a pro se application is not familiar with the proper procedures of the patent office, the examiner may suggest that it would be desirable for the inventor to obtain representation by a licensed patent attorney or agent. Manual of Patent Examining Procedure, Chapter 400 The patent examiner cannot recommend a patent attorney or agent, but the patent office does post a list of registered attorneys or agents. List of registered attorneys or agents.
It is not uncommon for individual inventors to file their own patents to potentially save thousands of dollars in agent/attorneys fees, since legal fees for the preparation and filing of a US patent application can total many thousands of dollars. While an inventor of a relatively simple-to-describe invention may well be able to produce an adequate specification and accompanying drawings for a utility application, the complexity lies in what is claimed, either in the particular claim language of a utility application, or in the manner in which drawings are presented in a design application. Moreover, failure to adequately respond to an office action from the USPTO can endanger the inventor\'s rights, and may lead to abandonment of the application.
Patent agents can only act in a representative capacity in patent matters at the USPTO, and cannot represent an applicant for a trademark. Trademark applicants may be represented by any state bar licensed attorney sufficiently capable of handling trademark matters, governed by the rules of professional responsibility. There is no analogous "trademark agent" exam.
The USPTO will accept patent applications filed in electronic form. As of March 2006, inventors or their patent agents/attorneys can file applications as Adobe PDF documents. The web page for submitting applications is https://sportal.uspto.gov/secure/portal/efs-unregistered. Filing fees can be paid by credit card or by a USPTO “deposit account”.
The USPTO Web site provides free electronic copies of issued patents and patent applications as single-page TIFF documents. The site also provides Boolean search and analysis tools.
The USPTO\'s free distribution service only distributes the patent documents as a set of single page files (see http://www.uspto.gov/patft/help/images.htm). Numerous free and commercial services provide patent documents in other formats, such as Adobe PDF and CPC.
The USPTO has been criticized for taking an inordinate amount of time in examining patent applications. This is particularly true in the fast growing area of business method patents. As of 2005, patent examiners in the business method area were still examining patent applications filed in 2001.
The delay has been attributed by spokesmen for the Patent Office to a combination of a sudden increase in business method patent filings after the 1998 State Street Bank decision, the unfamiliarity of patent examiners with the business and financial arts (e.g. banking, insurance, stock trading etc.), and the issuance of a number of controversial patents (e.g. U.S. Patent 5,960,411 "Amazon one click patent") in the business method area.
Effective in August 2006, the USPTO introduced an accelerated patent examination procedure in an effort to allow inventors a speedy evaluation of an application with a final disposition within 12 months. The procedure requires additional information to be submitted with the application and also includes an interview with the examiner.USPTO Accelerated Patent Examination The first accelerated patent was granted on March 15, 2007 with a 6 month issuance time.Press Release: USPTO GRANTS FIRST PATENT UNDER NEW ACCELERATED REVIEW OPTION
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