USPTO Regional Outreach Office celebrates 10 years of IP productivity

Photo by Jay Premack/USPTO

On June 30, 2014, for the first time in its nearly 200 years, the patent office had a major presence west of the Mississippi River. Ten years later, the USPTO’s Rocky Mountain Regional Outreach Office is still making history.

The 10-year anniversary event on August 23 celebrated the region’s remarkable record of intellectual property (IP) participation that features comparatively robust activity from women inventors. The Denver event—led by Kathi Vidal, under secretary of commerce for intellectual property and director of the USPTO—included insightful talks, interactive sessions and networking. 

The Rocky Mountain Office serves Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. Inventors in this region have received more than 126,000 patents in the past ten years. Women inventors were named on 21 percent of the total patents, compared to about 13 percent for the United States as a whole.

Colorado led the nine-state group with over 53,000 patents and the highest percentage of patents with women inventors (23 percent).

The Centennial State also led the region in trademarks with 4,300 of its nearly 14,700 new registrations.