Applying For Patents Just Got A Whole Lot Easier

Instead of having to travel to a patent office in Alexandria, VA, Silicon Valley inventors and entrepeneurs with ideas to protect will now go to a patent office much closer to home. It was announced Monday that the U.S. Patent and Trademark office will open one of its first satellite bureaus in San Jose.

The office, which could employ up to 1,000 people according to an article in the Daily Post, has been in demand for years. One in every four patents created in the U.S. comes from California, according to an article posted on BizJournals.com. Of those patents created in California, about half come from the Silicon Valley.

In addition to the new Silicon Valley office cutting out travel time, it will also cut down on the wait for a patent to be approved. Because the Alexandria office was the only patent office in the country, there was a backlog of three years.

The exact location of the office is yet to be determined, but it is expected to open within the next two years. In addition to the Silicon Valley office, Detroit, Denver and Dallas will also be home to patent offices in the future, according to the Denver Post. These cities were chosen from hundreds that applied.

Rep. Anna Eshoo, a leader in bringing a patent office to California, released a statement this morning on the announcement.

"The U.S. Department of Commerce has made a wise decision to locate a U.S. Patent and Trademark satellite office in Silicon Valley, the innovation capital of our country,” she said. “With Stanford and other top research universities, a highly skilled workforce, and a sizable share of the nation's patents, it's critical to have a patent office in Silicon Valley."

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