Coming to a community near you: the future of USPTO outreach

The new regional outreach office in Atlanta, which will serve Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, and Tennessee, is expected to be fully opened and operational by December 2025. We are currently taking important steps to locate space and to hire the Regional Outreach Office Director. If you're interested in the position, and the opportunity to serve and grow the nearly 24,000 patent owners and more than 160,000 trademark owners fueling local economies in the southeast region, apply by July 1.

We are also in the process of locating space for our Strafford County, New Hampshire office and have posted a job announcement for the leader of that office as well. To serve and grow the more than 10,000 patent owners and almost 30,000 trademark owners in New Hampshire and surrounding states, apply by July 1.

New leadership of Midwest Elijah J. McCoy Regional Outreach Office

I am also excited that long-time USPTO executive Derris Banks was chosento lead our Midwest Regional Outreach Office in Detroit. Derris officially began his new role on June 2 and is responsible for leading our outreach efforts in the Midwest area, serving IP owners and connecting more students, educators, inventors, small businesses, incubators, community colleges and four-year universities, and more with important resources.

Patent and Trademark Resource Centers and IP Champions

Our work to extend our IP resources in communities extends beyond our offices and into local libraries and schools. In addition to launching our IP Champions program, we have made a concerted effort to expand our network of our 90+ Patent and Trademark Resource Centers (PTRCs)and are growing them at rapid pace in libraries in communities around the country, quadrupling the PTRCs at HBCUs and adding PTRCs in states not previously served.

To better help aspiring innovators and entrepreneurs connect with key resources, we have updated our web resources and Locations pageso those new to the innovation ecosystem can find USPTO-related services in their communities.