Congressman Johnson's statement on USPTO selecting Georgia HBCUs for Southeast Community Engagement Office expansion

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Congressman Hank Johnson (GA-04), ranking member of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence and the Internet, released the following statement that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) selected Georgia for their Southeast Community Engagement Office expansion to include Atlanta University Center Consortium (AUCC–Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, Morehouse School of Medicine, Spelman College) and the Center for Black Entrepreneurship (CBE).

“Atlanta is internationally renowned as a hub for culture and creativity, and for technology and innovation, and I am delighted that the USTPO has selected Georgia’s HBCUs and Center for Black Entrepreneurship for their Southeast Community Engagement Office,” said Rep. Johnson. “But this is not an adequate replacement for the abandoned Atlanta Southeast Regional Outreach Office project, which was chosen according to explicit statutory vetting requirements. I call on the USPTO to serve the women, people of color, military veterans, and individual inventors in Southern communities and comply with governing law by establishing a regional outreach office outside of USPTO headquarters.

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