IP Law Daily, TRADEMARK NEWS: USPTO names Houghton Michigan Library a Patent and Trademark Resource Center, (Nov 5, 2013)

The USPTO announced yesterday the opening of a new Patent and Trademark Resource Center (PTRC) at the J. Robert Van Pelt and John and Ruanne Opie Library of Michigan Technological University. PTRCs, located in nearly all 50 States, assist the public in learning more about patents and trademarks with reference assistance and training programs. The library will hold a grand opening celebration and free public seminar on November 6, 2013.

“As a Michigan native I am particularly delighted that the USPTO will be working with the Michigan Technological University in Houghton to better serve the IP community throughout the state’s Upper Peninsula,” said Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Deputy Director of the USPTO Teresa Stanek Rea. “Patent and Trademark Resource Centers serve as the local face of the USPTO and, through agency-trained librarians and free resources, promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship nationwide.”

PTRCs span a nationwide network of public, state and academic libraries, according to the USPTO. They support inventors, intellectual property attorneys and agents, businesses, researchers, entrepreneurs, students, historians and the general public by making resources accessible to those who are unable to travel to the USPTO headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. Services at the resource centers are free, and include assistance in accessing and using patent and trademark documents, training on USPTO databases, providing access to the USPTO website, and hosting public seminars on intellectual property topics for both novice and experienced innovators.

Michigan Technological University was established in 1885 by the state of Michigan to provide training for mining engineers. Today, the university offers a growing menu of academic, professional and practice programs in the areas of engineering, business administration, environmental sciences and the sciences and arts. In addition to offering free electronic services and resources designed to support the intellectual property needs of local and state customers, the Houghton Patent and Trademark Resource Center will employ USPTO-trained librarians to provide customer assistance on the use of the agency’s patent and trademark databases.

The current PTRC network began in 1871 when federal law first provided for the distribution of printed patents to libraries for use by the public. The addition of the J. Robert Van Pelt and John and Ruanne Opie Library to the PTRC network brings the total number of resource centers to 83, which are located in 46 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. A full list of PTRC libraries can be found on the USPTO’s website here.

For further information on USPTO’s Patent and Trademark Resource Centers, please contact Christine Kitchens at (571) 272-5750, or christine.kitchens@uspto.gov.

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