DENVER – June 30, 2014 – Acting U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Bruce Andrews and Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Deputy Director of the USPTO Michelle K. Lee, along with several elected officials, today participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially open the permanent location for the USPTO Rocky Mountain Regional Office in Denver, Colorado. Located in the Byron G. Rogers Federal Building in Denver’s central business district, the new office will help the region’s entrepreneurs advance cutting-edge ideas to the marketplace, grow their businesses, and more efficiently navigate the world’s strongest intellectual property system.
“Through our ‘Open for Business Agenda,’ the Commerce Department is actively investing in communities across the country to build their capacity to spur innovation. We support innovative startups and enterprises throughout their lifecycle because those companies produce economic growth, support good-paying jobs, and benefit America’s middle class,” Acting Deputy Secretary of Commerce Bruce Andrews said during today’s ceremony. “We are excited to bring our department closer to our customers by opening the doors of this new USPTO satellite office – a one-stop-shop for intellectual property services that will help the Rocky Mountain region’s inventors and entrepreneurs speed their innovative products and technologies into the marketplace.”
“By retaining and hiring more talented examiners locally, we can further improve the overall quality and transparency of our operations while continuing to reduce patent pendency on a national scale,” said Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Deputy Director of the USPTO Michelle K. Lee. Read the full text of her remarks on the USPTO website.
“Today’s event celebrates the best of Colorado’s collaborative nature: Democrats and Republicans, urban and rural leaders, entrepreneurs and executives across sectors, all working together to put differences aside and do what’s best for our state,” said Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet.
The opening ceremony featured remarks by Denver Mayor Michael Hancock; members of Colorado’s Congressional delegation, including U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and Mark Udall, U.S. Representatives Corey Gardner and Ed Perlmutter, Nokero President and CEO Steve Katsaros, USPTO Commissioner for Patents Peggy Focarino and Chief Administrative Patent Judge James D. Smith. Following the opening ceremony, Acting Deputy Secretary Andrews, Deputy Director Lee and some of the elected officials toured the new facility and met with local business leaders and entrepreneurs.
The Byron G. Rogers Federal Building is home to multiple federal agencies and offers convenient access to downtown and suburban sites, including through the metro region’s array of public transportation options. The Rocky Mountain Regional Office in Denver will create an estimated 130 high-quality, good-paying jobs, eventually housing patent examiners, Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) judges, and outreach officials in a 45,000-square-foot space.
The USPTO announced in July 2012—when opening its first-ever satellite office in Detroit, Michigan—plans to create three more satellite offices across every continental U.S. time zone. Personnel operating out of temporary offices in Texas and California will move into their permanent locations in Dallas, Texas, and San Jose, California, in 2015. The offices provide the USPTO valuable, first-hand knowledge of how we can further help innovators navigate the commercialization lifecycle.