Houghton will be home to a patent and trademark resource center

Houghton is now home to a new center for patents and trademarks, as the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office opened a new location this month there.

 

The Patent and Trademark Resource Center is located at the J. Robert Van Pelt and John and Ruanne Opie Library at Michigan Technological University. Its role is to help the public learn more about patents and trademarks, provide reference assistance, and offer training programs. A patent and trademark center particularly helps researchers, inventors, entrepreneurs and creators protect intellectual property and innovations, which makes it pretty perfect for Houghton.

 

PTRCS are part of a nationwide network located in public, state and academic libraries, and offer services to inventors, attorneys, agents, businesses, researchers, entrepreneurs, students, historians and the public, allowing access to resources headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia. The Houghton location is the 83rd such center to open and will employ USPTO-trained librarians.

 

Its services are free and will include help accessing and using patent and trademark documents, training in how to use USPTO databases, and hosting public seminars on intellectual property topics.

 

"As a Michigan native I am particularly delighted that the USPTO will be working with the Michigan Technological University in Houghton to better serve the IP community throughout the state's Upper Peninsula," says Teresa Stanek Rea, Deputy Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Deputy Director of the USPTO. "Patent and Trademark Resource Centers serve as the local face of the USPTO and, through agency-trained librarians and free resources, promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship nationwide."