I was really hoping that this would happen. In fact, I even emailed the person scouting for locations of the US Patent Office to suggest he look at Downtown San Jose. The US Patent and Trademark Office is officially making San Jose's City Hall their official home!
They will be taking 40,000 SQFT across two locations, the 14th floor and the second floor of the wing. That should be enough for 18 patent judges' offices, 60 patent examiners, public conference space, collaboration space, and support staff.
To attract the patent office Downtown, the city gave them a sweet deal. Two years of free rent, Operational Expenses for the next four years, and market-rate rent for the next six years. However, since this space was not being utilized, the opportunity cost of making this deal is close to nothing and the upside is huge.
Everyone in the West Coast that wants to file a patent would be coming to Downtown San Jose to do so. This also puts high demand on the immediate area for services to cater towards patent-filers, such as legal services, research firms, etc. Large companies start may even start considering Downtown as a location for their Intellectual Property teams. It definitely won't hurt our vacancy rates, that's for sure. There are not many office submarkets that can brag about having a US Patent Office within walking distance.
This is a well deserved win for the top patent-filing region in the country, if not the world!
Source: SVBJ, Hat-tip to Bob
This is a HUGE win for downtown San Jose, and the city as a whole!
ReplyDeleteI can't possibly stress how important this is for DTSJ and the valley in general!
ReplyDeleteIf you want to get a sense of the impact take a look at how both the USPTO HQ move to Alexandria and the opening of a WIPO office in Sinagpore has shaped those respective cities.