United States Patent & Trademark Office

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is a federal agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Established as a distinct bureau in 1802 and formally organized by law in 1836, its headquarters is in Alexandria, Virginia. As a government agency, it is not a publicly traded or privately owned company. The USPTO is a fee-funded agency, operating on fees collected from its users rather than taxpayer dollars. As of 2024, the agency employed over 14,000 people.

The USPTO's primary services are the granting of U.S. patents for inventions and the registration of trademarks. It examines patent applications for utility, design, and plant inventions to determine if they meet legal requirements for patentability. The agency also examines and registers trademarks, which distinguish the goods and services of one entity from another. The USPTO maintains public databases of all issued patents and registered trademarks. Additionally, the agency advises the President and other federal agencies on intellectual property (IP) policy and includes administrative bodies like the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), which adjudicate disputes over patent validity and examiner decisions.

As a government agency, the USPTO is not a commercial entity that engages in patent litigation as a plaintiff or defendant in the typical sense. Its role in litigation arises when its official decisions are challenged. The provided data shows the USPTO as a defendant in one case and a plaintiff in none, which is consistent with its function. The agency is named as a party, typically the defendant or respondent, when a patent applicant or owner appeals a decision from an examiner or the PTAB to a federal court, most commonly the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

The tracked case, Corel Software LLC v. United States Patent & Trademark Office, illustrates the agency's typical posture in litigation. This matter is an appeal to the Federal Circuit likely stemming from a decision the USPTO made during a post-grant proceeding, such as an inter partes review or an ex parte reexamination. These proceedings were part of a larger, long-running patent infringement dispute originally filed by Corel against Microsoft, in which the validity of Corel's patents was reviewed by the USPTO. The appeal is a judicial review of the agency's final administrative action, a standard procedure in U.S. patent law.