Silicon Valley U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

The Silicon Valley USPTO is a West Coast regional office, serving California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Alaska, and Hawaii.

The office provides outreach services for inventors, entrepreneurs, startups, researchers, and others to:

• Obtain information about the USPTO and intellectual property through walk-in services.
• View live Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) proceedings at the Silicon Valley USPTO.  The office has a hearing room to host PTAB as well as Trademark Trial and Appeal Board proceedings.  Please visit the PTAB Hearing Schedule to view information about upcoming hearings.
• Search existing patents and trademarks on designated public workstations.
• Attend workshops, trainings, conferences and roundtables tailored to the needs of the community at all levels.
• Participate in programs designed to support and foster STEM education with an emphasis on innovative learning.
• Use interview rooms for applicants to connect with their patent examiners, who may be working at USPTO headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia, and across the country.  Interviews are scheduled through your examiner. 
• Deliver technical training from experts in the region to patent examiners working around the country.
• Meet with our strategic Federal partners, such as other bureaus at the Department of Commerce and the Small Business Administration, on programs for the small business and entrepreneurial community during scheduled office hours at our San Jose location.
• Participate in public tours of the San Jose facility, offered periodically through our events page on this site.

The Silicon Valley USPTO offers the ability for entrepreneurs and independent inventors to schedule a twenty minute 1-on-1 in-person meeting with a USPTO utility or design patent prosecution specialist to discuss the patent process at our regional office in San Jose City Hall.  The meetings will provide individuals with an opportunity to seek assistance with their inventions and the patent process, and serve as a complement to our ongoing educational programming.  Register here for appointments in January and February!

Stakeholder Training on Examination Practice and Procedure (MCLE Credit Available) 

Registration now open!  The USPTO will offer training to members of the public as part of the Stakeholder Training on Examination Practice and Procedure (STEPP) program. The STEPP program provides external stakeholders opportunities to better their understanding of the examiner’s role in the examination process. This training is intended for those who have recently passed the Patent Bar for the purpose of practicing before the USPTO.  These courses are led by USPTO trainers, and are based on material developed for training USPTO patent examiners and other employees.  The STEPP course, 3-Day Training on Examination Practice and Procedure, is scheduled for March 14-16, 2017 in San Jose, California. 

Upcoming Events

See full event listing

• January 24, 2017, 1 PM - 3 PM PT
  Hands-on Patent Search Workshop
  Silicon Valley USPTO
  Supervisory patent examiner will provide hands-on training on patent searching and using USPTO search tools.

• January 31, 2017, 12 PM - 1 PM PT
  Design Patent Brown Bag "Lunch and Learn"
  Silicon Valley USPTO
  Supervisory patent examiner will give an overview of the design patent system.

• February 3, 2017, 12 PM - 1 PM PT
  Silicon Valley USPTO Public Tour
  Silicon Valley USPTO
  Tour of the Silicon Valley USPTO and its available resources to entrepreneurs and innovators.

• February 14, 2017, 12 PM - 1 PM PT
  Trademark Tuesday
  Silicon Valley USPTO
  Trademark Assistance Center provides trademark basics and answers questions via videoconference.

• February 16, 2017, 12 PM - 1 PM PT
  Patent Brown Bag "Lunch and Learn"
  Silicon Valley USPTO
  Supervisory patent examiner helps inventors and entrepreneurs during live information session

The Silicon Valley, known as one of the most prodigious and innovative entrepreneurial communities in the country, was selected as our West Coast presence to assist the USPTO in fostering and protecting innovation.  Looking for information focused on startups? Visit our Startup Resources page.

Public Searching

Public searching on Universal Public Workstations is available from 9 AM - 4:45 PM PT, Monday - Friday, except federal holidays.

Universal Public Workstations provide access to the agency’s public electronic patent and trademark collections.  The public search room enables researchers to conduct self-directed searches.  The Silicon Valley USPTO has six public workstations with the same access requirements and print capabilities as public workstations in the Public Search Facility at USPTO headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia.

The Patent and Trademark Resource Centers (PTRCs) located in various public and university libraries offer beginner orientation on searching for patents and trademarks and other intellectual property resources.  The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Public Library is a PTRC and is located a block away from the Silicon Valley USPTO at 150 E. San Fernando Street, San Jose, CA 95112.

Visiting Us

The Silicon Valley USPTO is a federal facility.  Visitors must have a valid form of government-issued identification (driver license or passport) to gain access and may be subject to security screening.  

Business Hours: Monday - Friday, 9 AM – 5 PM PT.  Closed on federal holidays.

• On Monday, January 16, 2017, the regional office will be closed due to federal holiday.

Phone: 408-918-9900
Email: siliconvalley@uspto.gov

There is metered street parking on S. Fourth Street and surrounding streets, as well as public parking garages, including the Fourth Street Garage (which is not available to motorcycles).  The USPTO does not provide parking validation.