It has been just over one year since I was sworn in as director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office and I’d like to use the opportunity to take stock of where we are, and also to let you know about things we are working on for the coming fiscal year to address our goals of reducing the patent backlog, improving quality and providing more assistance to the independent inventor community.

For independent inventors, having a patent opens the door to critical funding that can move innovation from the drawing board to the marketplace. The creation of new jobs fuels our economy and keeps the United States in a worldwide leadership role in the development of new technologies that can benefit everyone. The USPTO is strongly committed to the independent inventor community and we are working at all levels to provide assistance to independent inventors during their patent prosecution.

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