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PRESS RELEASE
March 11, 2018
#18-04
CONTACT: (Media Only)
Paul Fucito
at
(571) 272-8400 or paul.fucito@uspto.gov
USPTO Unveils New Patent Cover Design at South by Southwest (SXSW)
Redesigned Cover to Debut on Patent 10 Million Later This Year
Austin - The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
today unveiled the new design of the patent grant cover during a special
ceremony at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Festival in Austin,
Texas. The redesigned cover will debut on patent number 10 million which is
expected to issue sometime in 2018.
“American ingenuity has
been at the forefront of every major technological revolution of the past two centuries,
from steam engines to flight, and from the biotechnology revolution to the
information revolution,” said Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual
Property and Director of the USPTO, Andrei Iancu. “This new patent design not
only celebrates how far we’ve come and the new frontiers we have yet to explore,
it also represents the cornerstone and the currency of an American intellectual
property system that has given so much to the world and will continue to do so
for ages to come.”
The
patent grant cover represents the physical document issued to inventors upon
the granting of a U.S. patent. The 225-plus year history of the patent cover
has seen fewer than a dozen basic designs since President George Washington
granted the first patent in 1790. Previous designs featured calligraphy,
elaborate engravings, and high-quality typesetting.
The
patent office has only redesigned the document twice in the last hundred years,
and the current design is more than 30 years old. A team of in-house USPTO graphic
designers created the new patent cover design. After several iterations,
Commissioner for Patents Drew Hirshfeld made the final selection.
“This
new design portrays a modern day flair while reflecting the history of patent
covers by taking design cues from 19th and early 20th century patent cover
designs, mostly through the use of script typography and graphic ornaments,”
said Commissioner for Patents Drew Hirshfeld. “When our designers and Patents
team were creating the new cover we wanted to create a design worthy of the
significance importance that the document itself has to inventors, and its
significance as a physical representation of American invention and ingenuity.”
The
ceremony, which was co-sponsored by the National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF), also featured remarks from Ethernet inventor, 2007 NIHF
inductee, and laureate of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, Robert M. Metcalfe and IBM Master Inventor, Susann Keohane, IBM Global Research Leader for the Aging Initiative.
For more information on the historic evolution of the patent cover, including
high resolution images of the new design, please visit: https://10millionpatents.uspto.gov/media-kit.html.
Stay current with the USPTO by subscribing to receive email updates. Visit our
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