WASHINGTON – The US Department of Commerce’s United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced the opening of a new Patent and Trademark Resource Center (PTRC) at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library of the San José Public Library system located in San José, California. PTRCs, located across the United States, assist the public in learning more about patents and trademarks with reference assistance and training programs. They serve as the local face of the USPTO and promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship, a press release by the USPTO stated.    

 

PTRCs are a nationwide network of public, state and academic libraries. They support inventors, intellectual property attorneys and agents, business people, researchers, entrepreneurs, students, historians and the general public unable to visit the USPTO headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. Services at the resource centers are free, and include assistance in accessing and using patent and trademark documents, training on USPTO databases, obtaining access to the USPTO Web site, and hosting public seminars on intellectual property topics for novice and experienced innovators.

 

San José Public Library’s King Library is a joint use facility serving as the main public library and an academic library for San José State University students and faculty.  The library is in the heart of Silicon Valley, and the King Library itself is nearby the USPTO’s Silicon Valley Regional Office.  The King Library has a history of programming and services to support area businesses, and is opening a new career and business center which will include the PTRC services.  In addition to offering free electronic services and resources designed to support the intellectual property needs of local and state customers, the San José Public Library will have a staff of USPTO trained librarians to provide customer assistance on the use of the agency’s patent and trademark databases.

The modern PTRC network began in 1871 when federal law first provided for the distribution of printed patents to libraries for use by the public. The addition of San José Public Library to the PTRC network makes a total of 84 resource centers located in 46 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. A list of current PTRC libraries can be found on the USPTO's Web site at www.uspto.gov/ptrc