Congress established the United States Patent and Trademark Office to
issue patents on behalf of the Government. The Patent and Trademark
Office as a distinct bureau may be said to date from the year 1802 when
a separate official in the Department of State who became known as
“Superintendent of Patents” was placed in charge of patents. The
revision of the patent laws enacted in 1836 reorganized the Patent and
Trademark Office and designated the official in charge as Commissioner
of Patents and Trademarks. The Patent and Trademark Office remained in
the Department of State until 1849 when it was transferred to the
Department of Interior. In 1925 it was transferred to the Department of
Commerce where it is today.
The Patent and Trademark Office administers the patent laws as they
relate to the granting of patents for inventions, and performs other
duties relating to patents. It examines applications for patents to
determine if the applicants are entitled to patents under the law and
grants the patents when they are so entitled; it publishes issued
patents and various publications concerning patents, records assignments
of patents, maintains a search room for the use of the public to examine
issued patents and records, supplies copies of records and other papers,
and the like. Similar functions are performed with respect to the
registration of trademarks. The Patent and Trademark Office has no
jurisdiction over questions of infringement and the enforcement of
patents, nor over matters relating to the promotion or utilization of
patents or inventions.
The head of the Office is the Assistant Secretary of Commerce and
Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks, and his staff includes the
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Deputy Commissioner of
Patents and Trademarks, several assistant commissioners, and other
officials. As head of the Office, the Commissioner superintends or
performs all duties respecting the granting and issuing of patents and
the registration of trademarks; exercises general supervision over the
entire work of the Patent and Trademark Office; prescribes the rules,
subject to the approval of the Secretary of Commerce, for the conduct of
proceedings in the Patent and Trademark Office, and for recognition of
attorneys and agents; decides various questions brought before him by
petition as prescribed by the rules; and performs other duties necessary
and required for the administration of the Patent and Trademark Office.
The work of examining applications for patents is divided among a number
of examining groups, each group having jurisdiction over certain
assigned fields of technology. Each group is headed by a group director
and staffed by examiners. The examiners review applications for patents
and determine whether patents can be granted. An appeal can be taken to
the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences from their decisions
refusing to grant a patent, and a review by the Commissioner of Patents
and Trademarks may be had on other matters by petition. The examiners
also identify applications that claim the same invention and initiate
proceedings, known as interferences, to determine who was the first
inventor.
In addition to the examining groups, other offices perform various
services, such as receiving and distributing mail, receiving new
applications, handling sales of printed copies of patents, making copies
of records, inspecting drawings, and recording assignments.
At present, the Patent and Trademark Office has about 5,700 employees,
of whom about half are examiners and others with technical and legal
training. Patent applications are received at the rate of over 200,000
per year. The Patent and Trademark Office receives over five million
pieces of mail each year.