What’s a PTRC?

Do you ever think, “Wow, someone should patent that?” Or do you have students/researchers ask about what the differences between a trademark and a patent are? Do the words intellectual property sound a bit intimidating? Well, there are a multitude of resources available and even centers dedicated to helping with these and many other questions. 

The United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) is a federal agency that follows the Constitution’s Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8, “To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.” Essentially, the social contract between inventors and the public. As a part of the USPTO mission, the office runs a program called the Patent and Trademark Resource Center (PTRC) program. PTRCs are a network of 85 public, academic, state, and even special libraries located across the United States. In fact, the state of Pennsylvania is lucky enough to have 3 PTRCs! They are located at the Free Library of Philadelphia, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, and Pennsylvania State University’s University Park campus. 

One important consideration is that PTRC services are available to everyone in the community. This means for the University Park PTRC, I do not only limit my help to Penn State faculty or students, rather I work with community members from across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as well. Part of this program is to reach everyone. At the University Park PTRC, this also helps me with meeting the Land Grant mission of Penn State University. So what can a PTRC offer?

Each PTRC has an official PTRC Representative to the USPTO who receives yearly training and reports statistics. These representatives are usually librarians who are eager to share their knowledge about the patent and trademark process. It is important to note that PTRC representatives are not lawyers and cannot provide legal advice. Representatives become experts in searching for patents trademarks in databases across multiple platforms. They will also offer classes and workshops on intellectual property basics, intellectual property searching, and using the USPTO website.

As part of my job, I regularly visit classes to share about the PTRC. I also work with Pennsylvania’s Patent Pro Bono Program, which moved to the Penn State Law Intellectual Property Clinic in January of 2023. I provide workshops on trademark searching and patent searching for events, both online and in-person, such as for Global Entrepreneurship Week in November.  I have a research guide dedicated to all things intellectual property if you are interested in learning more. 

Overall, the PTRC program is a unique resource for everyone. While an institution may not have a PTRC right on campus, that does not mean their students, faculty, and/or staff are out of luck. Feel free to refer them to any of Pennsylvania’s 3 PTRCs for support. If you are interested in learning more yourself, you are welcome to reach out to me at dawetzel [at] psu.edu.