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Seattle Office Launches! |
We have a subsidiary office in Seattle, USA, named "Yamaguchi & Associates Seattle" established in 2001.
This Seattle Office was originally founded for two main purposes; handling patent applications processed in the U.S. by Japanese clients, and and the handling patent applications applied by U.S. clients to be processed in Japan. However, over time the office has also provided a plethora of services and information to Japanese clients and US clients alike.
Why in the U.S. now?
At the time we established the Seattle office we already had business partnerships with major patent law firms throughout the United States.. Therefore, if prosecuting patent applications in the U.S. was our sole purpose we would not have needed to establish the U.S. office. However, we desired to provide our clients with a better service, and thus, having a US office allows us to provide more dependable, reliable service to our clients at a reasonable price.
Problems with Foreign Agents
Over decades, we experienced some problems that had certain common nature - for example, application documents were modified at their sole discretion, or they may say "by professional judgment", even when we clearly instructed them not to modify the content of the application; sometimes we had to give the same explanations again and again to major offices where contact persons changed frequently, etc
Preparation for Launch of Seattle Office
At the startup stage of the Seattle Office we invested in the necessary hardware and further invested much time in building up software resources.
While we prepared for our US launch we invited Mr. Tracy M. Heims, a US patent attorney, to stay at our office for more than three months, in order to learn and experience the Japanese way of business, lifestyle, and way of thinking.
With progress of all these preparation stages, now Seattle Office is planning to employ local assistant staff, toward the coming its official commencement of business operations scheduled in January 2007.
Please feel free to contact Yamaguchi & Associates for anything you need about patent application.
