Patent office to open temporary branch Jan. 2 in Lakewood
Denver Business Journal by Heather Draper, Reporter
Friday, December 21, 2012
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will open a temporary patent office in Lakewood on Jan. 2 until the renovations at the Byron G. Rogers Federal Building in Denver are completed, according to office of U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colorado.
The office is at the Denver Federal Center at West 6th Avenue and Kipling Streets in Lakewood.
USPTO is recruiting and hiring administrative patent judges for its Patent Trial and Appeal Board who will work out of the Lakewood temporary office.
“We are yet another step closer to a satellite patent office in Colorado that will bring jobs and economic development,” Bennet said in a news release. “The Lakewood office means that patent examiners and judges will begin working in Denver, providing easier access for applicants and inventors in many parts of the country. It also enhances Colorado’s reputation as a leader for innovation and entrepreneurial companies and a hotbed for cutting-edge industries. I look forward to continuing to work with [USPTO Director David] Kappos and the agency to ensure that the opening of the Denver office is a success.”
The office also will provide USPTO a base of operations for officials visiting from headquarters in Alexandria, Va., to connect with the innovation community in Colorado more easily, Bennet said.
“The opening of the temporary office location is a critical first step in changing the game and elevating our stature as a place for continued growth and opportunities for innovators and entrepreneurs,” said John Posthumus, a shareholder with the law office of Sheridan Ross PC, who devoted a lot of time to get a satellite patent office in metro Denver.
The USPTO announced in July that Denver was one of the three metro areas to be awarded a satellite branch of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office — a long-sought victory for the area that could mean an estimated $439 million in economic impact in five years.
Landing the office has been a major goal of the city’s business and economic development leaders for years as a boost to Colorado’s bioscience, aerospace and alternative-energy industries, and as a source of high-paying jobs.
The new satellite offices are being created under an amendment to the American Invents Act passed in 2011, which is meant to streamline the overburdened patent system, which has remained virtually unchanged since the early 1950s. The bill’s backers were seeking faster turnaround on patent applications to spur innovation and new jobs in the United States.