New Detroit Patent Office Dedicated

Over a thousand patent attorneys, inventors and community leaders gathered recently in the historic Henry Ford Museum in Greenfield Village, to celebrate the opening
of the Elijah McCoy United States Patent Office satellite in Detroit, Michigan. The 31,000 square foot office will be located at Stroh River Place. Elijah McCoy, for whom the Office is named, was the son of runaway slaves. The family moved to Detroit in 1846. Elijah studied mechanical engineering in Edinburgh, Scotland, and was an important inventor of improved, self-lubricating steam engines.

The Detroit office will employ about 100 patent examiners and staff, and will include a public search room comparable to that available now only in Alexandria, Virginia. Patent attorneys located in Michigan and elsewhere in the nearby mid-west see three important advantages which the Elijah McCoy Detroit Office offers to patent attorneys and their clients:

1. For patent subject matter examined in Detroit, attorneys and their clients will be able to interview cases with the examiner, without having to incur the expense of a trip to the Patent Office in Alexandria, Virginia;

2. Attorneys, patent searchers and inventors will now be able to use in Detroit the same sophisticated and user friendly searching software which is now available only in Alexandria. One can search the PTO records from any location, but not with the benefit of the searcher friendly software which will be available in the Detroit Office;

3. Patent attorneys and their clients will be able to video conference from the Detroit Office with Examiners located in Alexandria.

These advantages will save our clients money, and will afford important advantages to Michigan and nearby mid-western attorneys, now available only to those located in Washington DC and vicinity. Patent Office Director David Kappos is widely regarded among patent attorneys as the most savvy and effective Director the Patent Office has had in many years. We expect the Elijah McCoy branch to reflect his leadership in quality and service, and look forward to the benefits which we believe it will afford our clients.