SHU Provost and VP for Academic Affairs Thomas V. Forget announces the official opening of the new Patent and Trademark Depository Library at Sacred Heart University's Ryan-Matura Library on campus.

The Commerce Department’s United States Patent and Trademark Office has designated Sacred Heart University’s Ryan-Matura Library as an official Patent and Trademark Depository Library (PTDL). PTDLs maintain complete collections of over 6.7 million patents and nearly 2 million active or pending trademark registrations, as well as related information in various print and electronic media to support the diverse intellectual property needs of the public. SHU’s library joins an exclusive group of only 80 PTDLs in the U.S. The official “grand opening” took place on Monday, October 26th.

According to Dr. Gavin Ferriby, the library’s interim director, “The PTDL will be of great value to the large business community in Connecticut and, especially, Fairfield County. The PTDL program will allow the Ryan-Matura Library to provide inventors and entrepreneurs with access to a wealth of information found only in patent and trademark documents and provide expert staff assistance in its usage.”

USPTO’s patent and trademark depository library program is a nationwide network of public, state and academic libraries authorized to disseminate patent and trademark information and to support inventors, intellectual property attorneys and agents, business people, researchers, entrepreneurs, students, historians and the general public who are not able to come to USPTO's offices in Arlington, Virginia. Services at the libraries are free, and include assistance in accessing and using patent and trademark documents, training on USPTO databases, obtaining access to the USPTO website, and hosting public seminars on intellectual property topics for novice and experienced innovators.

The patent and trademark depository library program began in 1871 when federal law first provided for the distribution of printed patents to libraries for use by the public. A list of all the current libraries can be found on USPTO's Web site at www.uspto.gov.

Watch video from the official opening of the new Patent and Trademark Depository Library at Sacred Heart University's Ryan-Matura Library.