The various offices within the United States Patent and Trademark Office serve specific functions, both to the general public and the organization itself.
Office of the Under Secretary and Director
The Office is the principal advisor to the President, the Secretary of Commerce, and the Administration on all intellectual property matters. The OUS oversees all offices within the USPTO, ensuring the agency achieves strategic and management goals, including quality, timeliness, cost-effectiveness, and transparency.
Office of Education and Outreach
The Office of Education and Outreach (OEO) provides educational and outreach programming for students, educators, and young inventors and innovators of all ages. The OEO...
Public Advisory Committees
The Public Advisory Committees advise the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO on the management of the patent and the trademark operations. The Public Advisory Committees consist of citizens of the United States chosen to represent the interests of the diverse users of the USPTO.
Patent Public Advisory Committee (PPAC)
The PPAC reviews the policies, goals, performance, budget, and user fees of patent operations, respectively, and advise the director on these matters.
Trademark Public Advisory Committee (TPAC)
The TPAC reviews the policies, goals, performance, budget, and user fees of trademark operations and advises the director on these matters.
Patent Trial and Appeal Board
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) is created by statute, and includes statutory members and Administrative Patent Judges. The PTAB is charged with rendering decisions on: appeals from adverse examiner decisions, post-issuance challenges to patents, and interferences.
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) hears and decides adversary proceedings involving: oppositions to the registration of trademarks, petitions to cancel trademark registrations and proceedings involving applications for concurrent use registrations of trademarks. The Board also decides appeals taken from the trademark examining attorneys' refusals to allow registration of trademarks. The TTAB Assistance Center is available for telephone and email inquiries Monday-Friday 8:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m. ET (except federal holidays).
Office of the Commissioner for Patents
The Office of Patents of the USPTO examines applications and grants patents on inventions when applicants are entitled to them; it publishes and disseminates patent information, records assignments of patents, maintains search files of U.S. and foreign patents and maintains a search room for public use in examining issued patents and records.
Office of the Deputy Commissioner for Patent Operations
The Deputy Commissioner for Patent Operations provides administrative oversight to nine Patent Technology Centers and coordinates the activities of the examination of...
Office of Patent Examination Policy
The Office of the Deputy Commissioner for Patent Examination Policy establishes patent examination and documentation policy standards for the Commissioner for Patents...
Office of Patent Administration
The Deputy Commissioner for Patent Administration provides representation and direction on strategic outreach and planning for the Commissioner for Patents and acts as a...
Office of International Patent Cooperation
The establishment of the Office of International Patent Cooperation (OIPC) reflects the USPTO's strong commitment to the IP community in improving the international...
Office of the Deputy Commissioner for Patent Quality
The Deputy Commissioner for Patent Quality is responsible for optimizing the quality of patent products, processes and services to build a culture of process improvement...
Office of the Commissioner for Trademarks
The Office of Trademarks is responsible for both trademark examination policy and trademark operations.
Deputy Commissioner for Trademark Examination Policy
This office is made up of the Petitions Office; Legal Policy Office; Identification and Classification Policy Office; Trademark Assistance Center; and Office of Trademark Quality Review and Training.
Deputy Commissioner for Trademark Operations
This office is made up of the Office of Intent-to-Use, Office of Pre-Examination, Office of Trademark Publication, Trademark Law Offices, and Trademark Services.
Office of Policy and International Affairs
The Office of Policy and International Affairs assists in advising the President, through the Secretary of Commerce, and Federal agencies on domestic and international IP issues and treaty obligations.
Governmental Affairs
Mission Formulates legislative and policy proposals, and prepares supporting documentation to carry out the legislative and policy proposals, as well as supporting...
Office of the Chief Economist
The OCE is responsible for advising the Under Secretary and the Chief Policy Officer and Director for International Affairs on the economic implications of policies and programs affecting the United States intellectual property system.
Office of the Chief Administrative Officer
The Office of the Chief Administrative Officer (OCAO) is responsible for the overall administrative activities and functions of the USPTO. The OCAO consists of the Office of Administrative Services, the Office of Human Resources, and Telework Coordination.
Office of Administrative Services
The Office of Administrative Services (OAS) plans and administers a variety of administrative support programs, including asset management; conference services;...
Office of Human Resources
The Office of Human Resources (OHR) provides the leadership, policies, programs, services and systems necessary to meet the human resources requirements of the United...
Telework Program Office
The Telework Program Office liaisons with all USPTO business units to gather and report eligibility, environmental, and cost benefit data on existing telework programs;...
Office of the Chief Communications Officer
The Office of the Chief Communications Officer manages the USPTO's public affairs function and coordinates a wide variety of internal and external communications.
Office of the Chief Financial Officer
The Office of the Chief Financial Office (OCFO) advises the Under Secretary and Director on planning, budgetary, financial, and procurement matters. The OCFO also oversees implementation of and compliance with all federal laws and regulations pertaining to financial management, including the preparation of the USPTOs audited financial statements, financial management systems, and the planning and reporting of performance measures.
Office of Finance
The Office of Finance supports the USPTO mission by: ensuring that customer fee payments are promptly, accurately, and efficiently recorded and deposited; ensuring that Federal employees, contractors, and vendors necessary to protect intellectual property rights are paid promptly, accurately, courteously, and in accordance with the law; and providing audited financial statements and other financial management reports to the public, the Congress, the Office of Management and Budget, the Secretary of Commerce, and USPTO management staff. The Office of Finance is composed of the following divisions: Activity Based Information Division, Financial Accounting Division, Financial Reporting and Analysis Division, and the Receipts Accounting Division.
Office of Procurement
The Office of Procurement awards and administers a wide variety of contracts and simplified purchases for the acquisition of goods and services in support of the agency's mission. The Office of Procurement continually strives to remain on the leading edge of procurement reform and current technology. To that end, the Office of Procurement adheres to the USPTO's unique Patent and Trademark Acquisition Guidelines (PTAG) to ensure it conducts acquisitions in an efficient and innovative manner, including the application of performance based contracts, contracting for commercial items, reverse auctioning, and oral proposals. It is our goal to identify and utilize new techniques to develop partnerships with industry. The Office of Procurement is composed of the following divisions: Policy, Analysis and Oversight Division; Information Technology (IT) Acquisition Division; Patents and Trademarks Acquisition Division; and Corporate Services Acquisition Division
Office of Financial Management Systems
The Office of Financial Management Systems supports the CFO mission by providing maintenance and support for the USPTO’s core financial system. This system is fully compliant with the U.S. Standard General Ledger. It also maintains subsidiary ledgers to facilitate the timely and accurate reporting of capital assets, accounts payable, and revenues and other fees. Our goal is to provide our customers with the highest level of quality and service in all aspects of financial systems operations. To help achieve this goal, the Office of Financial Management Systems supports, maintains, and manages the USPTO's financial management information systems, including the Revenue Accounting and Management system. The Office of Financial Management Systems is composed of three divisions: Program Management Division, Financial Systems Operations Division, and the Core Financial Systems Operations Division. You can visit the Office of Financial Management Systems Web page to learn more about this office.
Office of Planning and Budget
The Office of Planning and Budget supports the CFO mission by ensuring that the USPTO's annual performance supports the strategic plan, and that the budget is efficiently and effectively executed to achieve optimal performance levels across all business units, and actionable information is provided to executive management. The Office of Planning and Budget is composed of the following divisions: Budget Formulation and Performance Management Division, Budget Execution Division, and Forecasting and Analysis Division.
Office of the Chief Information Officer
The Chief Information Officer (CIO) is the principal advisor to the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office on the application and transformation of information technology (IT) for the USPTO’s business.
Deputy Chief Information Officer
The Deputy Chief Information Officer (DCIO) provides day-to-day management and oversight of a workforce spanning application & system development, UX design &...
Office of the Chief Technology Officer
The Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) oversees the enterprise IT architecture; evaluates emerging technologies and applies these emerging technologies to...
Office of Organizational Policy and Governance
The Office of Organizational Policy and Governance (OPG) provides the management and oversight of enterprise Information Technology (IT) strategies, guidance, policies,...
Office of Program Administration Organization
The Office of Program Administration Organization (PAO) is responsible for the management of the overall USPTO IT program. The Office provides the major points of...
Office of Application Engineering and Development
The Office of Application Engineering and Development (AED) is responsible for the full life cycle management of the USPTO's automated information systems, consistent...
Office of Infrastructure Engineering and Operations
The Office of Infrastructure Engineering and Operations (IEO) provides day-to-day operational support for the USPTO automated information systems. The Office maintains...
Office of Information Management Services
The Office of Information Management Services (IMS) delivers quality information products and services to meet USPTO, public, and intellectual property community needs...
Office of Equal Employment Opportunity and Diversity
The Office of Equal Employment Opportunity and Diversity provides leadership, direction, and guidance in carrying out its equal opportunity and civil rights responsibilities. The USPTO promotes equal opportunity by a continuing affirmative program that identifies and eliminates discriminatory practices and policies.
Office of the General Counsel
The USPTO Office of the General Counsel (OGC) plays a vital role in the USPTO’s mission to issue patents and trademarks. It does so by providing timely and innovative legal advice which promotes innovation and creativity. The OGC is headed by a General Counsel, who is responsible for overall management of the division and acts as the Under Secretary and Director’s principal legal advisor in assuring the provision of legal advice and representation for the agency. The OGC also manages the USPTO's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) program. The OGC is concerned with defense of agency decisions in court and administrative tribunals, internal agency legal advice, and regulation of persons practicing before the USPTO. The OGC consists of three organizations, which are:
Office of the Solicitor
The Office of the Solicitor serves as legal counsel to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on intellectual property law matters. The Solicitor's Office...
Office of General Law
The Office of General Law (OGL) is responsible for representing the USPTO in matters other than those involving intellectual property issues. In this regard, the Deputy...
Office of Enrollment and Discipline (OED)
The Office of Enrollment and Discipline (OED) is responsible for registering attorneys and agents to practice before the USPTO and for developing and administering the registration examination. Only registered attorneys and agents are permitted to practice before the USPTO in patent matters. Additionally, the OED investigates allegations of misconduct by practitioners and administers and oversees the USPTO Law School Clinic Certification Pilot Program.