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Denver Patent Office Expected To Be A Boon For Region's Inventors

DENVER (CBS4) - The newest U.S. Patent Office that opens in Denver on Monday is expected to generate an estimated $440 million to the region over the first five years and create hundreds of jobs.

The office will be located in the old federal court house. The goal is to make Denver a more attractive location for innovative companies.

Jim Gunderson says he hopes the office will help inventors like him. He has seven patents, one of which is for a talking security robot called the Vigilant Robot.

Gunderson's ideas kick off a very complex process that, at some point, leads to getting a patent.

"When we did our first patenting process, they all went off to Washington. They showed up on somebody's desk and there were attorneys for whom we were just a name on a list," Gunderson told CBS4.

Gunderson said he expects that to change with a Denver patent office.

Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet was central to making that happen.

"It occurred to me that there wasn't a reason to have one more patent examiner in Washington, D.C.," Bennet said. It seemed to me having them out in the country where innovation is happening would be the right place to be."

Jeff Schell and Nicole Gravagna, with Rocky Mountain Patents, agree and say the Denver office will mean a boom in the state's economy and image.

"The perception of Denver will be dramatically improved as an innovation hub," Schell said.

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