SACRAMENTO, Calif. /California Newswire/ — Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today issued the following statement in response to the United States Department of Commerce’s decision to open a new, regional patent office in California: “The Commerce Department’s decision to locate a new patent office in the Silicon Valley recognizes that California is the world capital of creativity and invention,” said Governor Brown. “Nearly a quarter of the nation’s patent applications originate here, and I join all Californians in applauding this decision.”
The Commerce Department chose California as the location for a new patent office based upon a comprehensive analysis of criteria including geographical diversity, regional economic impact, ability to recruit and retain employees and the ability to engage the intellectual property (IP) community. Establishing a regional patent office in California will help the United States Patent Office recruit and retain new patent examiners, which is vital to speeding up the patent application process and helping American companies enter the marketplace more quickly.
Patents are a significant factor in private sector job creation. The Commerce Department issued a recent report finding that IP-intensive industries are the source 40 million direct and indirect jobs, contributing $5.06 trillion to the U.S. economy in 2010. More than 28,000 patents were granted in California last year, the most of any state in the country.
For more information on the new patent office, visit www.uspto.gov/news/pr/2012/12-40.jsp