Patent and Trademark Office

Located in the lobby of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Crystal City, Va., the 5-year-old Patent and Trademark Office Museum celebrates those among us who have always yearned to develop a better anchor (Albert H. Law, 1870), wheel for vehicular use (Albin Wietisbach, 1874) or bra (Mary Phelps Jacobs, 1914). All these inventions were patented. The museum introduces visitors to these visionaries, as well as to our first patent commissioner, Thomas Jefferson (who stored all of the republic's earliest patents in shoe boxes underneath his bed) and our only presidential patent recipient, Abraham Lincoln (who was issued a patent for "a devise for buoying vessels over shoals" in 1849).

Museum curator Ruth Nyblood says that although to some extent the museum exists to promote the work of agency personnel to the public, its prime purpose "is as an outreach tool to show the public the value of intellectual property."

The museum hosts four permanent exhibits, the history and homes of the Patent Office, trademarks, and the inventing history of Thomas Alva Edison (1,093 patents). In the permanent collection can be found an original Ovation guitar, Walt Disney's trademark application for Mickey Mouse and the record of Jimmy Buffet's successful trademark infringement case against ChiChi Restaurant's "Margaritaville Meal." On display this summer is an exhibit on inventions that built skyscrapers.

In 1814, Patent Office Superintendent William Thornton persuaded Col. Jones of the invading British army to spare the hotel that housed the Patent Office. Thornton told Jones, "To burn what would be useful to mankind would be as barbarous as formerly to burn the Alexandria Library, for which the Turks have been ever since condemned by all enlightened nations."

Patent and Trademark Office Museum
Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
2121 Crystal Drive
Arlington, Va. (Crystal City subway stop)
(703) 305-8341
www.uspto.gov