June 08, 1999
#99-13

Press Release #99-13

COMMISSIONER OF PATENTS TO VISIT DALLAS CAMP INVENTION

Press Release

Todd Dickinson, acting Assistant Secretary of Commerce and acting Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks, will pay a visit to Camp Invention at Ben Milam Elementary School on Friday, June 11, 1999 between 9:30 and 10:30 a.m. Ben Milam Elementary School is located at 4200 McKinney Avenue in Dallas, Texas.

Camp Invention, funded in part by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), is a nationwide educational outreach program designed to give children entering grades 2 through 6 an alternative to traditional classroom experiences. Camp Invention, a one-week day camp, builds on a child's innate curiosity and intuition about the way things work. Emphasis is placed on the creative process that leads to problem solving, discovery, and invention. Camp Invention's purpose is to stimulate the imaginations of America's next generation of inventors. The program is the premier educational outreach program of Inventure Place, the National Inventor's Hall of Fame.

PTO funding for Inventure Place will pay for scholarships for 30 of the approximately 50 Dallas children attending the week-long Camp Invention at Ben Milam. The Ben Milam Parents and Teachers Association raised funds to cover the cost of Camp attendance for the remaining children.

The PTO is the Commerce Department’s user fee-funded bureau that administers laws relevant to granting patents and registering trademarks; advises the Secretary of Commerce, the President of the United States, and the Administration on patent, trademark and copyright protection; and advises the Secretary of Commerce, the President of the United States, and the Administration on the trade-related aspects of intellectual property. Nearly 6 million patents for inventions have been issued since the first patent in 1790. Last year PTO issued 155,000 patents and registered 106,279 trademarks.