The June 30, 2014, opening of the USPTO Rocky Mountain Regional Office was a milestone event in the agency’s storied history.

For the first time in its nearly 200 years of existence, the patent office had a major presence west of the Mississippi River. The RMRO serves nine states: Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.

It is the USPTO’s second regional office; the first was opened in Detroit in 2012.

The Rocky Mountain office is located in downtown Denver in the Byron G. Rogers Federal Building, which has an interesting history of its own: It was completed in 1965 and, as a courthouse of the United States District Court for the District of Colorado, was the site of the criminal case against bomber Timothy McVeigh. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.

As with other regional offices, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board conducts proceedings at the RMRO. For public access to a PTAB hearing, either virtual or in person, submit a request to PTABHearings@uspto.gov at least three days before the hearing.

Molly Kocialski has been director of the USPTO’s Rocky Mountain Regional Office since January 2016. She brings more than 20 years of intellectual property experience to the USPTO.