Senior officials of the United State Patent and Trademark Office will be available on-line on this Thursday July 23, from 2 to 3 PM (EST). They will be answering questions and offering tips for independent inventors. Instructions for taking part in the on-line chat will be posted on the home page of the USPTO web site (http://www.uspto.gov/#) at 10 AM (EST) on this Thursday. Inventors can begin logging on for the chat at 1:30 PM.

The independent inventor on-line chat is part of the USPTO's continuing efforts to promote and protect America's independent inventors. This effort includes educating inventor-entrepreneurs about the risks of working with invention development companies.