Daily Briefs

Porcari named new director of USPTO Midwest Regional Office


On Sept. 4, Damian Porcari was sworn in as the new director for the USPTO Midwest Regional Office. Porcari begins his new post in Detroit on Monday.

As director of the Elijah J. McCoy Midwest Regional United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Porcari carries out the strategic direction of the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and director of the USPTO while leading the Midwest regional office in Detroit. By focusing on the region and actively engaging with the community, Porcari ensures the USPTO’s initiatives and programs are tailored to the region’s unique ecosystem of industries and stakeholders.

The USPTO regional offices give inventors, entrepreneurs, and small businesses the added benefit of a USPTO presence in every U.S. time zone. Staff in these offices work closely with intellectual property services, start-ups and job-growth accelerators in their regions. They collaborate with local science, technology, engineering and mathematics organizations.

 The America Invents Act of 2011 granted the USPTO the ability to establish at least three regional offices. The first of the new offices, the Elijah J. McCoy office in Detroit, opened in 2012. The Rocky Mountain Regional Office in Denver opened in 2014. The Silicon Valley office opened in San Jose in October 2015, and serves the West Coast region. The Texas Regional Office opened in Dallas in November 2015 and serves the region across the southern and southwestern U.S.

The Elijah J. McCoy Midwest Regional Office of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is located in the Stroh Building at 300 River Place Drive and serves the Midwest region of the United States including Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

 

Chris Graveline put on ballot as independent in race for attorney general


LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A former federal prosecutor is on the November ballot as an independent candidate for Michigan attorney general.

The Board of State Canvassers put Chris Graveline on the ballot Friday after he successfully sued over Michigan's rules for independent candidates. An appeal by the secretary of state failed Thursday.

Ralph Nader ran as an independent for president in 2004, and Ross Perot ran a similar campaign in 1992. But state election officials can't recall an independent candidate for a statewide office getting on the ballot.

Graveline didn't get enough petition signatures before a July deadline and argued that it was far easier for political parties to put candidates on the ballot. A judge agreed that the law violated his rights and set the threshold at 5,000.

––––––––––––––––––––
Subscribe to the Legal News!
http://legalnews.com/Home/Subscription
Full access to public notices, articles, columns, archives, statistics, calendar and more
Day Pass Only $4.95!
One-County $80/year
Three-County & Full Pass also available