January 30, 2003
#03-02

Agreement Reached on Patent Telework Program

AGREEMENT REACHED ON PATENT TELEWORK PROGRAM

PRESS RELEASE

700 experienced patent examiners will work from home one day each week

Management of the Department of Commerce’s U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the Patent Office Professional Association (POPA), the union representing USPTO’s 3,500 patent examiners, have reached agreement on an ongoing telework program. Under the program, approximately 700 senior examiners, representing about 60% of the agency’s top-level examiners, are eligible to work from home one day a week. Eligible participants must be performing at the fully successful level and be in full compliance with all of the agency’s ethical, conduct and confidentiality standards.

“I am certainly delighted by this development,” USPTO Director James E. Rogan commented. “Congressman Frank Wolf, who is in the forefront of government telework, will be pleased to hear this news, as well. Our trademark work-at-home program has been a great success. I am confident that the patent program will be equally successful and enhance our well-deserved reputation for leadership in this area.”