City tries to land patent office
Share with others:
Mayor Luke Ravenstahl has entered Pittsburgh into a competition to land one of three new satellite locations of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, saying the office would complement the city's history of innovation and fuel efforts to grow the high-tech economy.
Mr. Ravenstahl filed an application Jan. 30 with the support of nearly 30 local business, civic and education leaders, including members of PowerUp Pittsburgh, the high-tech task force he established in October.
He and U.S. Commerce Secretary John Bryson, who oversees the Patent and Trademark Office, briefly discussed the opportunity Feb. 1 during Mr. Bryson's visit to Pittsburgh. The mayor's office said Mr. Bryson called Pittsburgh's extensive support for entrepreneurs a mark of distinction.
The satellite office would enhance the city's image as a center of innovation, while offering practical benefits. The office potentially would employ dozens of attorneys and technical experts, while giving the city's scientists and entrepreneurs easier access to a key agency.
The Patent and Trademark Office, which has a campus in Alexandria, Va., gives inventors exclusive rights to their discoveries for certain periods of time. In November, the agency said it planned to establish its first three satellite offices with the aim of boosting its own employee recruitment efforts and better interacting with scientists and entrepreneurs nationwide.
The agency selected Detroit as its first satellite, saying the office, to open in the second half of the year, will create "more than 100 high-paying, high-skills jobs." It said it plans to open the other satellites within three years, provided financial resources remain available.
Numerous cities are making a pitch for the offices, with San Francisco and Denver thought to be receiving keen attention.
In Pittsburgh's application, Mr. Ravenstahl cited the city's history of innovation, its skilled workforce, research universities, government and corporate research centers, green initiatives and existing high-tech sector.
"We have all of the talent here at our universities, and we have a lot of collaboration between the public and private sectors," mayoral spokeswoman Joanna Doven said, calling PowerUp Pittsburgh part of that partnership.
Mr. Ravenstahl announced PowerUp Pittsburgh in October, saying he wanted to ramp-up the city's high-tech sector and expand the city's innovation zone from Oakland into other neighborhoods.
As part of that effort, the city Urban Redevelopment Authority today will announce an overhaul of business development efforts intended to bring a greater focus on innovation. That will include creating a new position, Pittsburgh innovation and entrepreneurship strategist.
Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey is among those supporting the city's application for a satellite patent office, saying in a statement that it would "bring at least 100 jobs and boost the city's already flourishing technology hub."
A satellite would mean "that the city is not only a contributor to American innovation but that it's also viewed as a future leader in that area," said Robert O. Lindefjeld, vice chairman of the American Bar Association's Section of Intellectual Property Law and the Mt. Lebanon-based counsel for Nantero Inc.
Michael J. Madison, professor and faculty director of the Innovation Practice Institute at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, said he expects the San Francisco area to be selected for one of the satellites.
Mr. Madison said a satellite office would help to cultivate "an important and interesting kind of technical and managerial expertise" in Pittsburgh. He predicted that many of the jobs at the satellite office "would be filled by people moving into the city rather than by people already living here."
First Published February 9, 2012 12:00 am
