United States Patent and Trademark Office established within the Department of State

Current Agency Structure (Out-of-Scope Context). As background context outside the 1802 event: the USPTO is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce serving as the national patent office and trademark registration authority. It is headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, after a 2005 move from the Crystal City area of neighboring Arlington County. As of the cited passage, it is headed by the under secretary of commerce for intellectual property and director of the USPTO. It cooperates with the European Patent Office and Japan Patent Office as one of the Trilateral Patent Offices and serves as a Receiving Office, International Searching Authority, and International Preliminary Examination Authority under the Patent Cooperation Treaty.

Legal Foundation. The legal basis for the United States patent system is the Copyright Clause in Section 8 of Article I of the U.S. Constitution. The Patent Act of 1790 was the first patent statute passed by the federal government, establishing the initial framework for patent grants.

Mission and Staffing. The USPTO's mission is to promote industrial and technological progress and strengthen the national economy. As of the end of FY 2018, the agency was composed of 12,579 federal employees, including 8,185 patent examiners, 579 trademark examiners, and 3,815 other staff.