The U.S. Department of Commerce's United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced that as part of its effort to solicit input from the public regarding the legal contours of patent subject matter eligibility, it will be holding two roundtables, one in November and one in December.

“In recent years, the jurisprudence on the very basic issue of what is patent eligible subject matter has been evolving requiring adjustments by innovators, businesses, lower courts and administrative agencies such as the USPTO,” said Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office Michelle K. Lee. “Our goal is to minimize any uncertainty in the patent system by ensuring we not only continue to apply the statute and case law in this area as faithfully as possible, but also understand the impact of the jurisprudence on innovation and assess what, if any, changes might be helpful to further support innovation.”

To learn more, read the press release.

This is my first Expo as Commissioner for Trademarks and I chose to move the Expo from the USPTO campus in Alexandria, VA to Washington, DC to make it more accessible for a wider range of attendees. An important part of the mission at the USPTO is education and outreach and this venue certainly aligns with the agency’s ongoing education outreach efforts. What better location to connect with and educate citizens on the important role of trademarks in the national and global economy than here a few feet from the National Mall and so close to Capitol Hill.

Speaking of Capitol Hill, I recently attended a celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Lanham Act on Capitol Hill.  Also in attendance were Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO Michelle Lee, Senators Coon and Grassley, and Representative DelBene. As Director Lee noted in her remarks, “The advantages enshrined in federal trademark law because of the Lanham Act are critical to competing and thriving in today’s global economy.”

A recent USPTO Department of Commerce report, that builds upon a 2012 report, found that 81 industries are Intellectual Property-intensive. Among those, Trademark-intensive industries once again were the largest in number and contributed the most employment—more than 23 million jobs in 2014.  Trademarks are often considered the most valuable asset of a company. How do you know the product or service is of high quality? By the Trademark! Some of the world’s most famous brands are valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Read the remarks by Commissioner for Trademarks Mary Boney Denison or watch the archived livestream of the opening ceremony.

Together, we have put the agency in a spot where we are ready to build on our successes. Today, we are financially more secure thanks to the America Invents Act, a milestone of this Administration, which gave us, among other things, fee setting authority. Additionally, we are more customer-service oriented and more responsive to stakeholder input than ever before. We’ve constantly welcomed—in fact solicited—feedback and input, and are willing to refine and improve where needed. We’ve had more RFC’s, Proposed Rules, and roundtables than ever before–and thank you for your input and patience responding to each. Whether you gave feedback on our EPQI, our 101 guidance, our PTAB implementation and refinements, and/or our transparency of patent ownership proposal, your input has been valuable.

We’ve also brought a broader range of services to support American innovators where and when needed, including: Through four regional offices across the country and over a dozen IP attaches across the globe. And, we’ve worked to provide you with more access to examiner interviews by training and promoting their benefits internally at the USPTO and externally, leading to an increase of 232% more interviewing hours in just eight years.

Read the remarks by Director Michelle K. Lee.

The Patent and Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) organizations continue to identify ways to deliver increasing value to the global intellectual property community. The USPTO has made tremendous progress reducing overall patent pendency, reducing our inventory of unexamined applications, enhancing patent examination quality, reducing the ex parte appeal inventory, and implementing the post-grant review proceedings established by the America Invents Act (AIA). While great progress has been made, there is still much to be accomplished.

Read the guest blog by Commissioner for Patents Drew Hirshfeld and Chief Judge of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board David Ruschke. 

USPTO’s mission, providing timely and high quality examination of patent and trademark applications, could be compromised with 18% of our workforce eligible to retire in the next 3-5 years.  Therefore, it is crucial that we actively recruit new talent from across the country and from all backgrounds.

As we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, we recognize that Hispanic employees at the USPTO provide a richness in skill, creativity, thought leadership and determination.

Through our newly redesigned careers pages, “USPTO Jobs,” social media, and other digital means, the USPTO is modernizing the way we recruit prospective employees, with special attention paid to reaching highly-qualified jobseekers from underrepresented groups. In particular, I am delighted to announce a new digital outreach strategy designed to reach Hispanic Millennials, making sure they know about job opportunities at the USPTO.

Read the guest blog by Director of the Office of Equal Employment Opportunity and Diversity Bismarck Myrick.

When selecting a mark for a new product or service, a business will search the USPTO database of registered marks to determine whether a particular mark is available. Registered trademarks that are not actually in use in commerce unnecessarily block someone else from registering the mark.

To ensure the accuracy of our trademark registry, in 2012, the USPTO launched a pilot program to gather data on whether registered marks were actually being used on the products and services listed on their registrations.

Read the guest blog by Commissioner for Trademarks Mary Boney Denison.

President Obama’s historic announcement, just two years ago, paved a new course of history for a more open U.S.-Cuba relationship—and today the Administration is taking steps to not only break down economic barriers, but also give way to more scientific collaboration, unlocking new opportunities for innovation. That presents a dynamic opportunity for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) — an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce — to support and facilitate trade and investment between our countries. That’s why under leadership of President Obama and Secretary Pritzker, we are working to create a framework for strong intellectual property rights that will anchor investment, and fuel research and development in both countries.  And it’s also why last week I participated in an historic office-to-office meeting between the USPTO and the Cuban Intellectual Property Office (OCPI) during the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) General Assemblies in Switzerland, to exchange perspectives on how each of our systems can be strengthened for the 21st century.

Read the guest blog by Deputy Director Russ Slifer.

The Deputy Commissioner for Patent Quality held the eleventh Patent Quality Chat in the 2016 webinar series on Tuesday, October 11th from noon to 1 pm ET on Assistance in Patenting:  Patents Ombudsman and Pro Se Assistance. Speakers Anthony Knight, Director of Stakeholder Outreach and Patents Ombudsman and Mindy Bickel, Associate Commissioner for Innovation Development detailed how the Pro Se Assistance Program helps inventors and small business owners who file patent applications without the assistance of a registered patent attorney or agent, and how the Patents Ombudsman Program assists applicants during patent applications prosecution. Improving interactions with our patent customers is a key part of the USPTO’s Enhanced Patent Quality Initiative (EPQI). 

Patent Quality Chat is a monthly, lunchtime webinar series designed to provide information on patent quality topics and gather your input. The next Patent Quality Chat will be held on November 8 and will discuss the findings of the USPTO’s Clarity of the Record Pilot.

To learn more about the October Patent Quality Chat, watch the archived video or view the presentation slides.

“Uncle Sam Needs Techies and Vice Versa”
By Bob Darrow, Fortune

“Michelle K. Lee on the USPTO (Video)”
By The Global IP Center  

“Mary Boney Denison Talks Trademarks (Video)”
By The Global IP Center

"USPTO pushes trademark message at National Expo; exhibitors call for more public outreach efforts"
By Tim Lince, World Trademark Review

“When Patents and Trademarks Go Bump in the Night”
By Commerce Blog

“IP Protection in China Is Finally Changing. Or So It Seems”
By Erika Fry, Fortune

“National Trademark Expo”
By Kip Currier, Intellectual Property and "Open" Movements

“#FedFeed – USPTO gets into the Halloween spirit with creepy patents”
By David Thornton, Federal News Radio

“Patent Office Makes Big Data Open to the Public”
By Eleanor Lamb, MeriTalk 

“Will Technology Make Ownership Obsolete? (Video)”
By Patrick Ross, Future Tense 

“USPTO Releases Intellectual Property and the U.S. Economy Report”
By Michelle King, INTA Blog