Government agencies serve a variety of different purposes. Oftentimes, the efforts of these agencies play profound roles in the lives of Americans, although they do so in the background. While the Food and Drug Administration works to make sure that the food you eat isn’t sold in a rancid condition, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration works to better ensure that you don’t die in a car crash.
On the intellectual property side of things, the U.S. Copyright Office and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) help to ensure that individuals and innovative businesses can benefit exclusively from the creative works of authorship, inventions and branding resources that they’ve created.
If your company advertises itself in any way, you may already be familiar with some of the trademark-related resources that the USPTO provides on its website. Intellectual property attorneys and members of the public alike utilize these resources when researching existing trademarks and when seeking to formally register new trademark protections. As the USPTO governs the formal federal trademark registration process, it makes sense that it would provide the public with access to these resources accordingly.
Staying Informed can help your intellectual property strategy
By understanding the mission and functions of the USPTO, you’ll be better empowered to execute a sound intellectual property strategy. Whether you can make effective use of the agency’s public resources or you simply want to better understand what your intellectual property attorney is talking about, remaining informed about the “goings on” of the USPTO is an effort that is well worth your time and energy.