The US Commerce Department’s United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced on May 30, 2014 that its permanent satellite office in Denver, Colorado, will officially open on June 30, 2014. Located in the Byron G. Rogers Federal Building in Denver’s central business district, the new office will help the region’s entrepreneurs advance cutting-edge ideas to the marketplace, grow their businesses, and more efficiently navigate the world’s strongest intellectual property system. The Denver satellite office will also soon begin hiring patent trial judges and patent examiners—creating new, high-skilled jobs in the Rocky Mountain region.

“From the moment a game-changing technology gets sketched on the back of a cocktail napkin to when a company goes public, the USPTO offers the tools entrepreneurs need to protect their innovations and promote U.S. competitiveness,” said Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Deputy Director of the USPTO Michelle K. Lee. “In addition to creating jobs for intellectual property professionals throughout the region, the permanent Denver satellite office will be an indispensable resource for regional inventors, entrepreneurs, and businesses. The office reflects the agency’s mission to promote and foster American innovation in the global marketplace while placing agency resources and personnel directly to the doorsteps of regional communities.”

The Byron G. Rogers Federal Building is home to multiple federal agencies and offers convenient access to downtown and suburban sites, including through the metro region’s array of public transportation options. The office will eventually house patent examiners, Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) judges, and outreach officials in a 45,000-square-foot space. There are currently nine PTAB judges working in the temporary location opened in Lakewood, Colorado, in January 2013. In addition to those judges, all of whom will relocate to the new office, the USPTO is currently seeking to hire additional judges and patent examiners for the permanent office, as well as a Deputy Regional Director for Outreach. 

The USPTO announced in July 2012 — when opening its first-ever satellite office in Detroit, Michigan—plans to create three more satellite offices across every continental U.S. time zone. Personnel operating out of temporary offices in Texas and California will move into their permanent locations in Dallas, Texas, and San Jose, California, in 2015. The offices provide the USPTO valuable, first-hand knowledge of how it can further help innovators navigate the commercialization lifecycle.

The USPTO worked with the General Services Administration (GSA) to identify a location that would have a strong economic impact on the region, engage a broad tapestry of businesses throughout the Rocky Mountain community, be the most cost-effective, and draw strong talent to a top-ranked work environment, while helping the USPTO fulfill its core mission. The goal was to find space comparable in size and function to the Detroit satellite office. The Rogers Building met all federal regulations for leasing space, as well as the USPTO’s unique needs to provide examiners and judges robust information technology resources and offer the public conveniently accessible services.