"Closing regional offices, eliminating the ability to recruit new examiners from across the country, and disregarding legislative intent threaten to undo years of progress. In the America Invents Act (AIA) of 2011, Congress required the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to establish at least three regional offices nationwide. These offices were not symbolic; they were intended to expand access to patent services, recruit new examiners, and strengthen innovation ecosystems outside Washington, D.C."
"In 2014, I was honored to serve as the first Director of the Rocky Mountain Regional Office, which provided inventors and small businesses across the Mountain West direct access to USPTO resources. By reducing barriers for entrepreneurs in states like Colorado, Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming, the office became a vital link between the innovation community and the federal government. Disruption and Destabilization The Trump administration's decision to close the Denver office undermines this congressional mandate."
The America Invents Act of 2011 required the USPTO to establish at least three regional offices to expand access to patent services, recruit examiners, and strengthen innovation ecosystems outside Washington, D.C. The Rocky Mountain Regional Office opened in 2014, providing direct USPTO access to inventors and small businesses across the Mountain West and reducing barriers for entrepreneurs in Colorado, Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming. The Trump administration closed the Denver office, citing minimal costs and headcount, while the office served hundreds of remote examiners and judges. The closure creates employment uncertainty, erodes morale, weakens the examiner corps, and threatens other regional offices amid broader centralizing measures.
Read at IPWatchdog.com | Patents & Intellectual Property Law
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