[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 114 (Wednesday, June 14, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38847-38849]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-12824]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Patent and Trademark Office

[Docket No. PTO-C-2023-0022]


Request for Comments on Southeast Regional Office and Community 
Outreach Office Locations

AGENCY: United States Patent and Trademark Office, U.S. Department of 
Commerce.

ACTION: Request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or 
Office) is seeking information to inform the planning and design of the 
USPTO satellite offices (regional offices) and newly-authorized 
community outreach offices (COOs). The USPTO is also seeking 
information on potential locations for a future USPTO regional office 
in the southeast region of the United States (Southeast Regional Office 
or SERO) and a COO in the northern New England (NNE) region (Northern 
New England Community Outreach Office) that the USPTO was directed to 
establish under the Unleashing American Innovators Act of 2022 (UAIA), 
signed into law as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 on 
December 29, 2022.

DATES: To ensure consideration, written comments must be received by 5 
p.m. ET on or before July 17, 2023, and should be submitted in 
accordance with the instructions in the ADDRESSES and SUPPLEMENTARY 
INFORMATION sections. No public hearing will be held.

ADDRESSES: For reasons of government efficiency, comments must be 
submitted electronically by completing the form at https://tinyurl.com/27srysh4. Complete the required fields using the pre-formatted response 
form that will allow you to comment on each topic of interest or 
question you choose to address. You may enter your responses directly 
into the form or cut and paste your responses from a MICROSOFT 
WORD[supreg] or ADOBE[supreg] portable document format (PDF) document 
into the field provided for each question. You must submit any 
attachments that provide additional support to a question through the 
electronic form. Attachments to the form will be accepted as 
ADOBE[supreg] PDF or MICROSOFT WORD[supreg] documents. To be 
considered, comments must be submitted through the electronic form. 
Because comments will be made available for public inspection, 
information that the submitter does not desire to make public, such as 
an address or phone number, should not be included in the comments.
    If submission of comments through the electronic form is not 
feasible due to a lack of access to a computer and/or the internet, 
please contact the USPTO using the contact information below for 
special instructions regarding how to submit comments by mail or by 
hand delivery, based on the public's ability to obtain access to USPTO 
facilities at the time.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Shirin Bidel-Niyat, Chief of Staff, 
Office of the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and 
Director of the USPTO, at 571-272-8600 or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background

    Enabled by the 2011 America Invents Act (AIA), the USPTO currently 
has four regional offices that are located in Detroit, Michigan; San 
Jose, California (Silicon Valley); Denver, Colorado; and Dallas, Texas. 
The purposes of the regional offices (ROs), as originally defined in 
the AIA and amended by the UAIA, are to:
     RO1: Better connect patent filers and innovators with the 
Office, including by increasing outreach activities to individual 
innovators, small businesses, veterans, low-income populations, 
students, rural populations, and any geographic group of innovators 
that the Director may determine to be underrepresented in patent 
filings;
     RO2: Enhance patent examiner and administrative patent 
judge retention, including patent examiners and administrative patent 
judges from economically, geographically, and demographically diverse 
backgrounds;
     RO3: Improve recruitment of patent examiners;
     RO4: Decrease the number of patent applications waiting 
for examination; and
     RO5: Improve the quality of patent examination.
    The USPTO has been focused on outreach and impact, and is working 
on ways to better support those new to the innovation ecosystem, 
bringing more people in America into the fold. The USPTO is also 
studying the role of the regional offices in serving both the public 
and the needs of our colleagues across the agency.
    The UAIA supports the USPTO's expanded outreach efforts by 
requiring the USPTO to establish, within three years of enactment 
(i.e., no later than December 29, 2025), a Southeast Regional Office in 
the geographic region comprised of the states of Virginia, North 
Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, 
Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas. The UAIA requires the Office to 
consider the following when selecting the site for the SERO:
     SERO1: Number of patent-intensive industries that are 
located near the site;
     SERO2: How many research-intensive institutions, including 
higher education institutions, are located near the site;
     SERO3: Governmental and business frameworks, at both the 
State and local levels, that support intellectual property-intensive 
industries that are located near the site; and
     SERO4: The proximity of the office to anchor institutions 
(such as hospitals

[[Page 38848]]

primarily serving veterans and institutions of higher education), 
individual inventors, small businesses, veterans, low-income 
populations, students, rural populations, and any geographic group of 
innovators that the Director may determine to be underrepresented in 
patent filings.
    The Act also requires the USPTO to report out within two years on 
whether additional offices are necessary to further increase 
participation in the patent system by individuals who have historically 
been underrepresented in patent filings.
    In addition to regional offices, the UAIA requires the USPTO to 
establish at least four COOs within five years from enactment of the 
Act (i.e., no later than December 29, 2027). The purposes of the COOs 
are to:
     COO1: Further achieve the purposes described above for the 
regional offices;
     COO2: Develop partnerships with local community 
organizations, institutions of higher education and/or research, and 
businesses to create tailored community-based programs that provide 
education regarding the patent system and promote the career benefits 
of innovation and entrepreneurship; and
     COO3: Educate prospective inventors, including individual 
inventors, small businesses, veterans, low-income populations, 
students, rural populations, and any geographic group of innovators 
that the Director may determine to be underrepresented in patent 
filings, about all public and private resources available to potential 
patent applicants, including the patent pro bono programs.
    The UAIA prohibits the establishment of a COO in the same state as 
the principal location of the USPTO (Virginia), or in a state that has 
a regional office (California, Colorado, Michigan, or Texas). The UAIA 
also requires that at least one of the COOs be established in the NNE 
region and serve the states of Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Under 
the Act, the Office must give preference to locations where:
     NNECOO1: There is at least one private institution of 
higher education and at least one public institution of higher 
education;
     NNECOO2: There are no more than 15 registered patent 
attorneys based on information from the USPTO's Office of Enrollment 
and Discipline; and
     NNECOO3: According to data from the 2012 Survey of 
Business Owners conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, less than 45% of 
the firms are owned by women, minorities, or veterans.
    The USPTO will use quantitative metrics and criteria to inform the 
location selection for future ROs and COOs. The Office plans to 
consider the following classes of data (D) at a minimum:
     D1: Business demographics.
     D2: Concentration of research- and IP-intensive 
industries.
     D3: Socioeconomic and demographic metrics of the regional/
local population.
     D4: Availability and concentration of existing business 
development resources.
     D5: Overall geographic diversity of office locations.
    The USPTO welcomes input from all stakeholders on any matter that 
they believe is relevant to the overall planning and design of the 
USPTO RO and COOs, or the selection of locations for the new SERO or 
NNECOO. Commenters are encouraged to address any or all of the 
statutory considerations listed in the UAIA and summarized above, any 
other considerations they believe the USPTO should consider, and the 
questions listed below.
    Commenting Instructions: To be considered, comments must be 
submitted through the electronic form available at https://tinyurl.com/27srysh4. Please cite any public data that relates to or supports your 
responses. If data is available but non-public, describe such data to 
the extent permissible.

II. Specific Request for Comments: Planning and Design of Regional 
Offices and Community Outreach Offices

    With the addition of COOs to the agency's footprint, the USPTO 
envisions the joint mission of the ROs and COOs to be the cultivation 
and expansion of a vibrant and inclusive innovation and 
entrepreneurship ecosystem supported by intellectual property across 
the United States. To accomplish this mission, the offices will conduct 
broad stakeholder engagement with innovators ranging from individual 
inventors to multinational business entities; establish and leverage 
partnerships and relationships to scale the USPTO's work; incentivize 
regional innovation and entrepreneurship, especially in key emerging 
areas; and promote full participation by innovators and entrepreneurs 
of all backgrounds, including in rural areas and from our military, to 
support U.S. innovation and jobs.
    The USPTO invites responses to the following questions:

Regional offices

    1. Considering the envisioned mission above, what essential 
services--including outreach, education, customer service, convening 
space, and employee support--should a RO provide to achieve the 
statutory purposes?
    a. Do you prefer to have the services you identified delivered 
virtually? Why or why not?
    b. Do you prefer to have the services you identified delivered in 
person? Why or why not?
    2. What types of organizations should the RO pursue relationships 
and collaborations with to better leverage and scale its services?

Community Outreach Offices

    3. Considering the envisioned mission above, what essential 
services--including outreach, education, and customer service--should a 
COO provide to achieve the statutory purposes?
    a. Do you prefer to have the services you identified delivered 
virtually? Why or why not?
    b. Do you prefer to have the services you identified delivered in 
person? Why or why not?
    4. What types of organizations should the COO pursue relationships 
and collaborations with to better leverage and scale its services?
    5. Would you support a COO being co-located with other public 
sector entities/services?
    a. If so, please describe the added value of having a shared 
location.
    b. Which public sector entities/services would you suggest for the 
shared location(s)?
    c. If not, please describe the benefit of having a unique location 
for a COO.

General Comments Regarding Regional and Community Outreach Offices

    6. What unique services should the ROs and COOs individually 
provide, and how should the full range of services complement each 
other?
    7. Considering the potential classes of data listed in part I 
above, what additional key indicators or data would support future RO 
and COO site selection?
    8. What else should the USPTO consider when planning for the ROs 
and COOs?

III. Specific Request for Comments: Location of the Southeast Regional 
Office

    Given the statutory purposes and considerations of ROs, including 
those specific to the SERO, as discussed in part I, and the planning 
and design considerations identified in part II:
    9. What data would assist in assessing potential locations for the 
SERO site?
    10. What is an ideal location for the SERO? Describe how this 
location meets

[[Page 38849]]

the statutory purposes and considerations.
    11. What State or local government, legal, and business frameworks 
that support intellectual property-intensive industries are located 
near the recommended site?
    12. What else should the USPTO consider when determining the ideal 
location for the SERO?

IV. Specific Request for Comments: Location of the Northern New England 
Community Outreach Office

    Given the statutory purposes and considerations of COOs, including 
those specific to the NNECOO, as discussed in part I, and the planning 
and design considerations identified in part II:
    13. What data would assist in assessing potential locations for the 
NNECOO site?
    14. What is an ideal location for the NNECOO? Describe how this 
location meets the statutory purposes and considerations.
    15. What community organizations/businesses near the recommended 
office location could the USPTO collaborate with to help provide 
intellectual property education and promote the career benefits of 
innovation and entrepreneurship?
    16. What else should the USPTO consider when determining the ideal 
NNECOO?
    While the Office welcomes and values all comments from the public 
in response to this request, the comments submitted do not bind the 
Office to any further actions related to the comments, and the Office 
may not respond to any or every comment that is submitted. The Office 
will, however, consider all written submissions.
    Any and all decisions made with regard to the future locations of 
the RO and COOs will be made consistent with the criteria outlined in 
the UAIA and the goals and mission of the USPTO.

Katherine K. Vidal,
Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of 
the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. 2023-12824 Filed 6-13-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-16-P