Patent Office to Stay Open Even if Government Shuts Down

The Patent and Trademark Office will remain open even if Congress fails to pass a continuing resolution to fund the government.

The office can continue normal operations for a few weeks because it has access to its fees collected in prior years, should a shutdown occur, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur L. Ross said in an email sent Jan. 19 to PTO employees.

PTO employees should continue working as normal until further notice, Ross said.

The PTO is self-funded, mostly through fees collected from patent and trademark filers, but is still subject to the budget approval process.

It maintains two separate ...