US Patent and Trademark Office in a Nutshell

US Patent and Trademark Office in a NutshellYou might have heard a couple of times the wordspatent and trademark. Though you have a vague ideaof its relation to commercial products and to yourfavorite icon, you may have not wholly graspedwhat it really is and who has the authority togrant trademarks and patents. You have this fuzzyidea that it somehow protects products frompiracy problems and helps distinguish the forgedproduct from the real one.

A patent is a group of limited rights given by thestate to the patentee or inventor for a certainperiod of time in barter for the controlled publicexpos?of information about the invention,composition of a substance, which can be veryuseful to the industry or can be commerciallypopular. The grant will be exclusive only to thepatentee thwarting off other individuals fromlegally manufacturing and or selling off thepatented product.Trademark, on the other hand, is any unique symbolor logo which can be utilized by an individual ororganization to promote their merchandise andservices to consumers. Trademark can be consistedof logos, symbols, design, icons, word, phrase,name or a amalgamation of these essentials.The USPTO or United States Patent and TrademarkOffice is the agency that controls trademarks andpatents registered in the United States.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office isa U.S. Department of Commerce organization. TheUSPTO basically endow patents to registertrademarks and protect inventions. Thisorganization provides service for the interestsof commerce and inventors as well as theirbusiness products, inventions, and their serviceidentifications. It also serves variousgovernment agencies when it comes to issuesconcerning domestic and international facets ofintellectual properties. The USPTO upholds thedevelopment of the country's technology andindustry, as well as fortifying the economy.The USPTO was created by the United StatesCongress mainly for the purpose of grantingpatents for the benefit of the government. Backin the year 1802, the Patent Office was a separateagency in the Department of State. It was thenwhen an official of the office was calledSuperintendent of Patents. The Patent office was

eventually restructured after the amendment ofpatent laws in the year 1836, the officer incharge became known as Commissioner of Patents.The office stayed on the wings of the Departmentof State until it was reassigned to the Departmentof Interior in 1849. Then it was relocated to theDepartment of Commerce in 1925 up to the presentday.The name Patent Office itself underwent someforms of evolutions. In 1975, its name was alteredinto Patent and Trademark Office. But then again,it was changed in the year 2000 into the UnitedStates Patent and Trademark Office, which thename still remains as of the present day.The Under Secretary of Commerce for IntellectualProperty is the chief and director of the USPTO.As the chief of the said agency, the Director isin charge in the supervision of tasks in relationto the issuing and granting patent. The Director

also supervises the listing of trademarks, setsdown policies and regulations, which are subjectto the authorization of the Secretary of Commerce,for the performance of the proceedings of theOffice. The Under secretary also tackles avariety of issues carried out before the Officeby appeal as imposed by the policies andregulations. The USPTO chief has other dutiesthat are required for the Office'sadministration.Although the chief of the USPTO may have hugeresponsibilities on his or her shoulders, theworkload of probing applications for patents areshared by several examining technology centers orTC.Each examining technology center have their owncontrol over each fields assigned to their center.The TC is led by an assemblage of directors,examiners, and support staff. The examiners studythe application for patents and decide if a patent

can be granted. These same examiners also make outapplications that may claim identical inventionsand may well start proceedings to settle on whichinventor came with the invention first. The TC mayor may not grant a patent but an appeal can bebrought to the Board of Patent Appeals. TheDirector of the USPTO may review the case and heor she may have the final say about the matter.You have something original in mind? Have theUSPTO patent it and have them recognize yourtrademark.