USPTO In Obama’s Proposed Consolidation Of Trade-Related US Agencies?

US President Obama today announced a proposal to combine six government agencies working in areas of international trade and economics, aimed at boosting efficiency. This includes the Commerce Department, which currently houses the US Patent and Trademark Office.

The full list is: The Department of Commerce’s “core business and trade functions”, the Small Business Administration, the Office of the US Trade Representative, the Export-Import Bank, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and the US Trade and Development Agency. USPTO did not reply by presstime on the impact on the agency.

But the White House fact sheet indicates that the USPTO is included in the reorganization, as it mentions a one-stop location for all business-related activities including obtaining a patent.

“The President is proposing to consolidate those six departments and agencies into one Department with one website, one phone number and one mission – helping American businesses succeed,” it said. “One Department: there will be one Department where entrepreneurs can go from the day they come up with an idea and need a patent, to the day they start building a product and need a warehouse, to the day they are ready to export and need help breaking into new markets overseas.”

The list does not include the Copyright Office, housed in the Library of Congress.

Meanwhile, a variety of trade proponents immediately raised concern about USTR, which sits within the Executive Office of the President, and more broadly the signal it sends about trade as a priority.

But the White House highlighted the positive impact for small US businesses looking for help.

“For too long, overlapping responsibilities among agencies have made it harder, rather than easier, for our small businesses to interact with their government,” the 13 January White House fact sheet said. “This is redundant and inefficient. Small businesses often face a maze of agencies when looking for even the most basic answers to the most basic questions. There is a whole host of websites, toll-free numbers and customer service centers that at times offer them differing advice. The result is a system that is not working for our small businesses.”

The White House fact sheet is here.