Plain language at the USPTO

The Plain Writing Act of 2010 is intended to make government communication clear and understandable for the public. To comply with the act, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), like other federal agencies, must write in a way that is "clear, concise, well-organized, and follows other best practices appropriate to the subject or field or audience." We’re committed to following the Federal Plain Language Guidelines in our written communications.

Annual compliance reports

We’re required to document our ongoing efforts to comply with the act. You can find past information regarding our plain language efforts within the annual compliance reports on the U.S. Department of Commerce Plain language webpage. We’ll also publish future reports to this page.

Director of Communications Eric Atkisson oversees our plain language efforts.

Send us your feedback

If you have difficulty understanding any of our documents or the webpages on our website, or have general feedback related to our plain language compliance, please contact us at PlainLanguage@uspto.gov.