US Patent Office Kicks into High Gear, Resulting in Record Highs for All Tech Valley Patent Indices

ALBANY, NY (07/07/2010)(readMedia)-- Hoffman Warnick LLC (HW), an intellectual property law firm based in Albany, NY, has released the Tech Valley Patent Indices for Second Quarter 2010. The "Tech Valley Patent Indices" include data for: the Capital Region (Albany, Schenectady, Saratoga and Rensselaer counties), Tech Valley, Tech Valley without IBM and GE, and the Capital Region without GE.

In the second quarter, evidence of the Patent Office's attempts to attack their backlog is evident in the record high patent issuances for all of the Tech Valley Patent Indices. "All of the Tech Valley Patent Indices are at record highs, tracking the record high national number of issued patents" stated Spencer Warnick, partner at Hoffman Warnick. Warnick added that: "this result is commensurate with our suspicions from last quarter. The Patent Office is no longer the rejection office and there is a clear change in attitude at the US Patent Office created by new Director David Kappos, a former IBM Chief IP Counsel. Remarkably, after the national number set a record for the number of patents issued since we started tracking in 2001 in the first quarter, it jumped again by close to 9000 patents in the 2nd quarter. This is fantastic news for those long suffering inventors and companies that have continually been plagued by the Patent Office backlog, perhaps relief from long pendency is on the horizon."

The "Patent of the Quarter" is chosen to illustrate firsthand the creativity of Tech Valley inventors. This quarter, the POQ is awarded to: US Patent No. 7723744 issued to Jennifer Gillies, David Socha, Kwang-Ohk Cheong and Michael LoCasio for a "Light-emitting device having semiconductor nanocrystal complexes." The patent issued May 25, 2010. The patent is assigned to Evident Technologies, which is a client of Hoffman Warnick.

To obtain a pdf of this quarter's Patent Index, please e-mail hwemail@hoffmanwarnick.com or visit www.hoffmanwarnick.com.

About Hoffman Warnick LLC: Hoffman Warnick LLC is an intellectual property law firm focusing on biotechnology, nanotechnology, computers and software, electrical, mechanical, chemical, and materials engineering. Hoffman Warnick is committed to providing the highest quality services including: domestic and international property rights procurement, dispute resolution, and licensing.