New Patent Office to Help Out Silicon Valley

A new regional patent office will open in San Jose to deal with the huge influx of U.S. patent application coming from Silicon Valley companies.
 
San Jose, along with Dallas, Detroit and Denver, were chosen as the cities to house new regional patent offices to cut down on the large amount of applications awaiting review at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, according to Bloomberg. The cities were chosen out of 600 applicants and based on geographic diversity, economics and proximity to the companies who file for patents.
 
About 640,000 applications are awaiting first review and the agency has a critical need for engineers who understand technology and are close to the satellite offices. That, of course, won't be a problem in the heart of Silicon Valley.
 
“The single most important step we can take to support an economy built to last is to bring new inventions to market as quickly as possible,” David Kappos, director of the Patent and Trademark Office told Bloomberg.
 
The four offices are expected to "reflect local communities," and Silicon Valley will likely be focused on electronics and biotechnology. Tech company Apple is known for applying weekly for patents (it has more than 10 applications for June alone,) and companies such as Google and Intel aren't far behind.
 
Because it is the hub of technology, Silicon Valley receives the most patents in the nation, with more than 10,000 issued in 2010. San Francisco, Oakland and Fremont add another 6,290 patents. California inventors made up 26 percent of all patents, or 28.148 out of 108,626 in 2011.
 
The new satellite office makes sense for Silicon Valley and its many established companies and startups. For companies such as Apple, it will also mean they no longer have to have a Beltway office to apply for a patent or trademark.
 
 
 
 
 
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