Closure of Denver's U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has some asking, "what now?"
After the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced it's closing its regional office in Denver, longtime employees and those who work in the field of patents are asking what the future holds for them and those who need their services.
About a month ago, the office's regional director resigned after nearly a decade in that role due to changes that were being made by the Trump Administration. Although some of those changes were foreseen, she never imagined that just a few weeks after she left, the Rocky Mountain Regional Office would close.
"There were some people who were locked out of the office, and that's how they found out that they'd lost their jobs," said Molly Kocialski. She's been fielding calls from former colleagues for several days.
"A lot of phone calls, a lot of emails, a lot of texts, a lot of informal counseling, I always referred to, especially our Rocky Mountain office, as a family, and that has proven true," said Kocialski. "So that has definitely been the last 48 hours, and some of it is just sitting with people in that uncertainty that has been caused in their lives and their professions."
Last week, the USPTO announced department-wide layoffs as well as the closure of its Denver office that served a 5-state region. The office opened in 2014.
"We could tell them, here's where you get your intellectual property protected, along with how you get funding," said Kocialski. "The Rocky Mountain office also had Patent Trial and Appeal Board judges here. And those are the people that take a second look at patents to see whether or not they should have been issued in the first place."
In a press release announcing the office's closure, the USPTO said that, as of December, the number of employees in the Rocky Mountain office had dropped to less than 10. However, Kocialski says that's not true.
"They used a number prior to the Trump administration issuing 'return to work' orders. So, right in December of '24, there were no return-to-work orders," she said.
She says the number was more than double that, and 185 other remote employees reported to the office. While the layoffs and looming closure are impacting employees, the effects could be much broader.
Randy Sasaki is the administrator of the patent program at Mi Casa Resource Center in Denver. It's sponsored by the USPTO and helps low-income inventors.
"They're referred to by the U.S. Patent Rocky Mountain Division, so it's unfortunate. I assume we will receive less applicants," he said.
That means fewer opportunities for the communities those inventors serve, Sasaki says. The Mi Casa Resource Center receives around 175 applications every year and has seen many success stories. He recalls one he'll never forget.
"She developed a component for a barbecue grill," said Sasaki. "She was homeless and it enabled her to use the grill without utensils because she didn't have any, and so look, there are a lot of stories like this. It's disappointing for these individuals, you know, and conceivably, for the benefit of our nation. This is where innovation comes from. It's got to start somewhere, and this is a pathway for those individuals."
