Silicon Valley's permanent patent office is dead (for now)

A permanent home for the new Silicon Valley USPTO office is officially on pause. The temporary office will stay at 345 Middlefield Road.

Sponsored Links
	Will you be able to retire in comfort? Download the 15-Minute Retirement Plan by Fisher Investments. www.FisherInvestments.com
	SONY® Alpha DSLR Cameras Free Shipping & Exclusive Deals. Shop the Official Sony Store Now! Store.Sony.com/AlphaDSLR
Get Listed Here

Nathan Donato-Weinstein: Real Estate Reporter- Silicon Valley Business Journal; Email | Twitter

If you were waiting to find out where Silicon Valley's permanent patent office was going to land -- well, don't hold your breath.
The General Services Administration has formally cancelled the lease procurement process for the satellite office's permanent location, at least for now, said Anthony Kusich, communications director for Congressman Mike Honda, who is working with colleagues in the House to keep the project afloat.
GSA is the federal agency running point on the site selection for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and notified stakeholders, including landlords and congressional leaders, in recent days.
GSA officials this morning characterized this as a delay in the process. "In light of unforeseen budget changes, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is postponing the procurement of new space in Silicon Valley," GSA Spokeswoman Traci R. Madison told me in an email. "All interested parties have been notified and current offices will remain in operation."
The news comes a month after we reported exclusively that the GSA was considering putting the project on hold because of the impact of broad federal budget cuts, known as the sequester, on the USPTO. (For now, patent inspectors are working out of a small temporary office in Menlo Park.)
Silicon Valley was one of four regions, along with Denver, Detroit and Dallas, chosen for a satellite patent office in June 2012 under the America Invents Act. A temporary, 4,700-square-foot space at the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park was announced with fanfare in March. Since then, the GSA has been considering permanent office locations in Santa Clara, San Jose, Sunnyvale and Mountain View.