At the opening ceremonies for the Denver patent office, Denver’s mayor told the story of his first day on the job and receiving a call from a local patent attorney. The patent attorney was calling to recruit the mayor’s help in encouraging the USPTO to select Denver as one of the regional locations for the Patent Office. I forget if the mayor mentioned this or not; but, that has an uncanny parallel to Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court:
That reminds me to remark, in passing, that the very first official thing I did in my administration — and it was on the very first day of it, too — was to start a patent office; for I knew that a country without a patent office and good patent laws was just a crab, and couldn’t travel any way but sideways or backways.
By the way, here is an update on the local patent rules being implemented by the U.S.District Court for the District of Colorado:
The United States District Court for the District of Colorado on June 4, 2014, formally adopted a Pilot Program that Implements Proposed Patent Rules. The Pilot Program is designed to facilitate the efficient management of patent cases through the use of local rules collaboratively developed with members of the local patent bar and with input from public comment. Patent cases following the procedures and deadlines set forth in the Pilot Project Local Patent Rules, began August 1, 2014.
The details of the Pilot Program, the Pilot Project Local Patent Rules, and the form Proposed Scheduling Order for a Patent Case can be found at the U.S. District Court’s website at: cod.uscourts.gov/CourtOperations/RulesProcedures/PilotProjects or can be obtained at the office of the Clerk of the Court at the Alfred A. Arraj U.S. Courthouse Annex located at 901 19th Street, Denver, Colorado 80294.