Highlights from the Remarks by U.S. Commerce Secretary Don Evans Commemorating The Bicentennial of U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Washington, D.C.

The following quotes can be attributed to Secretary Evans:

· For 200 years PTO has worked side-by-side with America’s inventors—To spur them on, to advocate for them, and to protect them – from thievery of their ideas, their vision, their genius.

· Thanks in no small measure to PTO, schoolchildren today know that the electric lamp was Edison’s invention; the telephone, Bell’s; the flying machine …courtesy of the Wright Brothers; and John Deere invented the steel plow.

· In the last two centuries, the men and women of PTO have issued more than six million patents—and, in doing so, have helped bring hundreds of thousands of products to market, establish whole new industries, and create millions of jobs.

· So Thomas Jefferson’s praise for the work of PTO still applies today. PTO is the epicenter of innovation in 21st Century America, just as it was over the past two centuries.

· In this post 9/11 world, PTO’s work becomes all the more important. Technology and innovation are key to America’s homeland and economic security.

· America’s inventive spirit has been re-energized by the challenges of the war on terror. And in these challenging times, PTO also is revitalizing itself. President Bush has proposed a 21% increase in PTO’s Fiscal Year 2003 budget. That will mean: faster processing times and enhanced quality; a fully electronic patent and trademark operation by 2004; and implementation of the President’s management agenda, including e-government, outsourcing and workforce restructuring.

· To ensure that the PTO meets the challenges of our 21st Century Information Age, Jim Rogan has proposed a 21st Century Strategic Plan. With the Plan, PTO will:

use state-of-the-art technology for smarter, faster and more accurate service;

retrain and hire new examiners with expertise for tomorrow’s inventions; and

partner with intellectual property offices around the world to protect American inventors and businesses in the global marketplace.

Jim’s solid plan will guide PTO into its third century of service. It will ensure that PTO is a quality-driven, highly-productive, cost-effective organization. A PTO that America’s entrepreneurs, inventors and businesses want and need.