It all started simply enough last year, when Thompson & Knight secretary Amanda Seward told her boss Max Ciccarelli about a Facebook post from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). That post announced that the agency was looking for new cities in which to open its first-ever satellite offices.
The America Invents Act of 2011 requires the USPTO to establish at least three regional satellite locations by September 2014 as part of a larger effort to modernize the U.S. patent system. The new satellite offices are designed to reduce the backlog of patent applications and allow entrepreneurs and patent attorneys better access to patent examiners and to the USPTO’s comprehensive search databases.
