CPIP Celebrates 10 Millionth U.S. Patent With Panel At Smithsonian

The Center for the Protection of Intellectual Property (CPIP), the Smithsonian’s Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation, and the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) hosted a panel discussion at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History titled Two Centuries of American Innovation and 10 Million Patents.

In June, the USPTO surpassed 10 million patents issued since President George Washington signed the first U.S. patent in 1790. These utility patents represent two centuries of breakthroughs that transformed the United States into the world’s innovation leader, even as inventors from around the world have sought U.S. patent protection.

Panelists discussed the importance of patents to the work of inventors and explored how, over the past 200 years, inventions have moved from basements, garages, and university, government, and industrial labs to everyday use.

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