USPTO
Law & Legal abbreviation · Intellectual Property
| Stands for | United States Patent and Trademark Office |
|---|---|
| Categories | Law & Legal |
USPTO stands for United States Patent and Trademark Office, an intellectual property abbreviation also used in government.
Federal agency within the Department of Commerce that examines and grants patents and registers trademarks. Headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, it employs thousands of patent examiners and trademark examining attorneys and houses the PTAB and the TTAB.
Example: The USPTO issued the patent 28 months after the application was filed.
Usage notes
Its constitutional basis is the Patent and Copyright Clause (art. I, § 8, cl. 8), and it is funded by user fees rather than general taxes. It has regional offices in cities including Detroit, Denver, Dallas and San Jose. Copyright registration is handled separately by the US Copyright Office. Often shortened to PTO.
Related abbreviations
More intellectual property abbreviations
- BRI – Broadest reasonable interpretation
- CBM – Covered business method review
- CC – Creative Commons
- CC BY – Creative Commons Attribution License
- CC0 – Creative Commons Zero
- CCB – Copyright Claims Board
- CIP – Continuation-in-part
- CNIPA – China National Intellectual Property Administration
- Copr. – Copyright
- DOE – Doctrine of equivalents
- EPC – European Patent Convention
- EPO – European Patent Office
See all 50 intellectual property abbreviations →
This entry is for general education and is not legal advice. Abbreviation use varies between institutions; always confirm in context.