A savior for Silicon Valley’s patent office? New D.C. bill introduced

We told you earlier this month that Silicon Valley’s long-sought regional patent office is facing an indefinite delay. Now, the region’s congressional delegation has introduced a measure to get the project back on track.
On Friday, Silicon Valley Reps. Zoe Lofgren, Mike Honda and Anna Eshoo — all Democrats — introduced a bill that aims to disentangle the patent office from broad federal budget cuts that took effect earlier this year, known collectively as the sequester.
Silicon Valley was one of four regions, along with Denver, Detroit and Dallas, chosen for a satellite patent office in June 2012. A temporary, 4,700-square-foot space at the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park was announced in March. Since then, the GSA has been considering permanent office locations in Santa Clara, San Jose, Sunnyvale and Mountain View.