Organizations and Governmental Agencies for Reference

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is the federal agency for granting U.S. patents and registering trademarks: www.uspto.gov

 The Tennessee Bar Association is dedicated to enhancing fellowship among members of the state's legal community. A voluntary professional association, the TBA offers its members a variety of programs and services designed to assist in professional development and works to build a positive image for the profession in the community.   Welcome (tba.org) 

The District of Columbia Bar, created by the D.C. Court of Appeals in 1972, is among the largest unified bars in the United States. The precipitating force for the D.C. Bar’s creation was the legal commuity’s desire to have a single organization that could uphold the ethical standards and rules of professional conduct: www.dcbar.org

The MSBA takes an active role in shaping legislation considered in Annapolis and D.C. to realize the best possible outcomes for Maryland’s lawyers and legal professionals: www.msba.org

AIPLA supports IP professionals and advances an effective and balanced intellectual property system through advocacy, education, training, and community outreach: www.aipla.org

Founded in 1878 by 17 merchants and manufacturers who saw a need for an organization “to protect and promote the rights of trademark owners, to secure useful legislation, and to give aid and encouragement to all efforts for the advancement and observance of trademark rights.” Since then, [they] have grown into a global community, with members around the world and offices in multiple regions: www.inta.gov

The Copyright Office is responsible for administering a complex and dynamic set of laws, which include registration, the recordation of title and licenses, a number of statutory licensing provisions, and other aspects of the 1976 Copyright Act and the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act: www.copyright.gov

The U.S. International Trade Commission is an independent, nonpartisan, quasi-judicial federal agency that fulfills a range of trade-related mandates. [They] provide high-quality, leading-edge analysis of international trade issues to the President and the Congress. The Commission is a highly regarded forum for the adjudication of intellectual property and trade disputes: www.usitc.gov

The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit was established under Article III of the Constitution on October 1, 1982. The court was formed by the merger of the United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals and the appellate division of the United States Court of Claims. The Federal Circuit is unique among the thirteen Circuit Courts of Appeals.  It has nationwide jurisdiction in a variety of subject areas, including international trade, government contracts, patents, trademarks, certain money claims against the United States government, federal personnel, veterans' benefits, and public safety officers' benefits claims: www.cafc.uscourts.gov

The Constitution elaborated neither the exact powers and prerogatives of the Supreme Court nor the organization of the Judicial Branch as a whole. Thus, it was left to Congress and to the Justices of the Court through their decisions to develop the Federal Judiciary and a body of Federal law. The establishment of a Federal Judiciary was a high priority for the new government, and the first bill introduced in the United States Senate became the Judiciary Act of 1789. The act divided the country into 13 judicial districts, which were, in turn, organized into three circuits: the Eastern, Middle, and Southern. The Supreme Court, the country's highest judicial tribunal, was to sit in the Nation's Capital, and was initially composed of a Chief Justice and five Associate Justices: www.supremecourt.gov