Today the intellectual property practitioners around the globe will be celebrating World Intellectual Property Day. The goals of World Intellectual Property Day are to raise awareness of how patents, copyright, trademarks, and designs impact daily life. It is a celebration of the innovation and creativity of the world’s entrepreneurs, whose contributions assist in the technological development of societies across the globe. “On World Intellectual Property Day 2011 WIPO joins governments, organizations, schools, and enterprises around the world in celebrating the designers today, who are designing the future.” , said the Director General of WIPO.

It is unfortunate that the celebration of World IP Day here in the U.S. coincides with recent developments of budget reductions at the USPTO. These budget reductions hinder innovators from fast tracking their patents and prevent the USPTO from opening satellite offices to aid in examination. It is a dynamic time to be a part of the intellectual property community as there has been a strong effort around the globe to increase the security of intellectual property rights, to encourage innovators to pursue intellectual property in their country, as well as many organizations and entrepreneurs recommending an open innovation policy to aid in the timely and cost effective development of intellectual property.

There have been recent changes at Legal Advantage as well. We are finishing the process of opening a new office in the heart of Alexandria, just blocks away from the USPTO. This is yet another step in the continued push to be able to provide the most effective services to our global clients. Over the course of 2010 our clients have been looking for our support from our Patent Search services to assist in streamlining.