US Patent Office

The USPTO is currently based in Alexandria, Virginia, after moving from Arlington, Virginia. Since 1991, the office has been fully funded by fees charged for processing patents and trademarks. The current head of the USPTO is Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property Jon W. Dudas, who was nominated to the position by President George W. Bush in March 2004 and was then appointed on July 30, 2004.

The USPTO cooperates with the European Patent Office (EPO) and the Japan Patent Office (JPO) pursuant to trilateral agreements. The USPTO is also a Receiving Office, an International Searching Authority and an International Preliminary Examination Authority for international patent applications filed in accordance with the Patent Cooperation Treaty. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO or USPTO) is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that provides patent protection to inventors and businesses for their inventions, and trademark registration for product and intellectual property identification.

The mission of the PTO is to promote "industrial and technological progress in the United States and strengthen the national economy" by:

  • Advising the Secretary of Commerce, the President of the United States, and the administration on patent, trademark, and copyright protection; and
  • On July 31, 1790, the USPTO awarded its first patent to Samuel Hopkins for an improvement "in the making of Pot ash and Pearl ash by a new Apparatus and Process." This patent was signed by then president George Washington.
  • Administering the laws relating to patents and trademarks;
  • Providing advice on the trade-related aspects of intellectual property.
  • The X-Patents (the first 10,000 issued between 1790 and 1836) were destroyed by a fire; less than 3,000 of those have been recovered and re-issued with numbers that include an "X". The X is generally at the end of the number, except for the first patent, which has the X at the beginning of the number. The X distinguishes the patents from those issued after the fire.
  • Each year, the PTO issues thousands of patents to companies and individuals all around the world. As of March 2006, the PTO has issued over seven million patents.