U.S. Patent Office plans outreach center in Strafford County

Center intended to serve inventors and entrepreneurs, including those from underrepresented backgrounds

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office plans to open a community outreach office in Strafford County to serve innovators in the New England region, officials said Wednesday.

The agency also will open a new regional office in Atlanta to serve the Southeast region. That office is expected to be open by December 2025, with the New Hampshire office coming shortly afterward, according to a news release.

The offices will serve as resource centers to serve inventors and entrepreneurs, including those from underrepresented backgrounds, the release said. Its specific location was not mentioned; Dover is the county seat of Strafford, which also includes Rochester, Somersworth and Durham.

“President Biden often says that America can be defined in a single word: possibilities,” said Kathi Vidal, under secretary of commerce for intellectual property and director of the USPTO, in a statement.  “These new offices support the Administration’s commitment to drive economic growth and job creation by enhancing USPTO’s ability to meet people where they are and connect them with important resources to help inspire and strengthen the innovation ecosystem.”

The creation of the new offices is part of the Unleashing American Innovators Act of 2022, which was signed into law in December 2022.

Selection of the new regional office was based upon criteria in the law that states the decision should be based on several characteristics, including:

• The number of patent-intensive industries near the site.
• How many research-intensive institutions, including higher education institutions, are located near the site.
• The state and local government legal frameworks that support intellectual property-intensive industries located near the site.
• The proximity of the office to individual inventors, small businesses, veterans, low-income populations, students, rural populations, and any geographic group of innovators that are underrepresented in patent filings.

The decision on the location for the Northern New England community outreach office was based on the following criteria:

• Located in an area with at least one public and one private institution of higher education.
• In a jurisdiction with 15 or fewer registered patent attorneys.
• In a jurisdiction where women, minorities, and veteran-owned businesses comprise less than 45% of total business ownership.

The new offices will join the current Patent Office outreach offices in Alexandria, Dallas, Denver, Detroit and San Jose.