US Patent and Trademark Office

USPTO is the abbreviation for United States Patent and Trademark Office. It is the Federal agency which looks after granting US patents as well as registration of trademarks. The USPTO works in accordance of the mandate of the Article I, section 8, clause 8 of the Constitution that the Executive Branch ‘promote the progress of the useful arts and science by protecting the limited times to inventors the entire right of their discoveries’.

Functions

The USPTO plays an important function of advising the U.S. Government and the President of the United States, the Secretary of Commerce on the protection and enforcement of the intellectual property (IP) policy. It also works towards promoting stronger as well as effective IP protection around the world. The USPTO also works in coordination with the U.S. innovators and entrepreneurs by working with agencies all around the world to ensure they have a strong IP provision in terms of free trade and international agreements. Another major function of USPTO is to provide training and necessary education and organize capacity building programs that will increase the respect for IP and foster the development of strong IP enforcement regimes by the U.S. trading partners.

Structure

The head of the USPTO is known by two names, the Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office and the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property.

The staff of the director involves the Deputy Director of the USPTO and the Deputy under Secretary of Commerce, the Commissioner for Trademarks and other officials and the Commissioner for Patents.

The Director, as the head of the USPTO performs all the duties related to the granting as well as issuing of the patents and the registration of the trademarks. The director also exercises the overall supervision of all the work of the USPTO. The Director also has to prescribe the rules that need to be approved by the Secretary of Commerce for the recognition of agents or attorneys, for the conduct of the proceedings in the USPTO. The director also needs to decide about the various questions put before the Office by petition in accordance of the rules and perform duties that are necessary and required for the sake of administration of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. inventors.about.com

Role

The main role of the USPTO is to register trademarks and to grant patents for the sake of protection of the inventions. The USPTO serves the interests of the businesses and the inventors in terms of their inventions and service identifications and corporate products. The USPTO also assists as well as advises the other agencies of the US government in various matters related to the intellectual property, for instance, in matters related to patents, semiconductor mask works and trademarks.

The USPTO also helps in the advancement of the United States by encouraging the technical as well as scientific advancement of the country. It also works in preserving, classifying and disseminating patent information.

As far as its duties related to granting patents is concerned, USPTO evaluates the application and grants patents for the inventions whenever the applicants are entitled to them. The USPTO then publishes and spreads the patent information, maintain the search files of US and records assignments of patents. It also maintains a search file for the sake of public use in examining issued records and patents. It also provides the official records and copies of patents to the public.