[E-trademarks] driving 80 miles? (was Trademark Employee Exodus? No Evidence So Far)

Fri Feb 14 16:41:41 UTC 2025

Back in the '90s, my aunt commuted from approximately Berryville (if you know Mount Weather, they lived on the side of the mountain below the base; it's about 20 miles east of Winchester) to NASA HQ in downtown DC. I don't know how she did it. I assume the traffic wasn't as bad, but it's still very far. I know a lawyer who left DoT for a law firm before the election and moved from Alexandria/Fort Hunt to Purcellville. And his law firm is making him come in to downtown DC almost every day.

The local news here in DC has been reporting<https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/thousands-of-federal-workers-expected-to-return-to-in-person-work-this-week/3840466/?amp=1> on the Navy Yard traffic. Part of it is just to get into the base, regardless of the parking situation. When BRAC expanded Fort Belvoir in Fairfax County south of Alexandria and the Bethesda Naval Hospital (to replace the DC Walter Reed), it has taken years to get the construction done to support the new volume of workers. The entrance to the Medical Center metro opened on the east side of Rockville Pike in front of the pedestrian gate to now Walter Reed in 2022, eleven years after the Bethesda location replaced the DC hospital. (Before that, people taking the Metro to Walter Reed had to cross seven lanes of traffic on a major artery.) If this is indeed the new normal, it will take a long time for things to adapt.

The PTO recently discontinued the lease of one of the two parking garages at their Alexandria HQ, the West Garage across from the federal courthouse. Last year, there were signs up in the garage about this, noting that the PTO would no longer be validating parking and it wouldn't be employee parking anymore, although even after that date, receipts from that garage still said "USPTO" on them. Maybe they'll have to get it back.

I don't know what the mood is like in the PTO, but my friends in other government departments said that the Fork FAQ that called government jobs "lower productivity" strengthened their resolve to stick it out and force the Government to fire them rather than resign. But these are people who live within reasonable commuting distance of their offices and one was used to going in regularly because she used to work with classified material.

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From: E-trademarks <e-trademarks-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com> On Behalf Of Laura Geyer via E-trademarks
Sent: Friday, February 14, 2025 10:23 AM
To: For trademark practitioners. This is not for laypersons to seek legal advice. <e-trademarks at oppedahl-lists.com>
Cc: Laura Geyer <lgeyer at ndgallilaw.com>
Subject: Re: [E-trademarks] driving 80 miles? (was Trademark Employee Exodus? No Evidence So Far)

CAUTION: EXTERNAL MESSAGE
I'm certain there will be more departures, because even if people walked tomorrow, it would take time for the systems to update and *that* assumes systems working as normal, and things are not normal.

It's not only that you don't know how many will have taken the FORK but also, you're going to have serious attrition among those ordered back especially in the DC area (like people who are expected to undertake a two hour each way commute) who are either retirement eligible or are desperately trying to find new work because their current life makes it impossible to return to work in Alexandria or who simply will have no choice. There are reddit groups for examiners and other federal workers (despair/fear level, high) and so this is simply a matter of months as those resignations and retirements roll in, especially among working mothers. [Not trying to be all "woke" just talking about the discussions all over the social media/media world about the economic and temporal reality here].

Also, I'll be interested to know how they deal with even the "within 50 miles" in terms of congestion and parking near the USPTO's current location (Ronni, out from *Winchester*??? Jeepers!) in terms of traffic. My sources say that they're preparing for a total disaster down at the Naval Yard (and near it), because there are only 4kish parking spaces and now over 16k who will be there once everyone's "back to work" there. The area's not ready for that kind of congestion. Though if we could get a Nimitz class aircraft carrier up and down the Anacostia, that would provide space for another 5k people to get to work if they could board from a new big parking facility somewhere downriver. Heck, they could work ON the carrier!

Hire us for creative solutions!

Laura

Laura Talley Geyer | Of Counsel

ND Galli Law LLC
1200 G Street, N.W., Ste 800
Washington, DC 20005
Tel: (202) 599-9019 (direct)
https://ndgallilaw.com/laura-geyer/
https://ndgallilaw.com/

From: E-trademarks <e-trademarks-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com<mailto:e-trademarks-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com>> On Behalf Of Carl Oppedahl via E-trademarks
Sent: Thursday, February 13, 2025 4:59 PM
To: For trademark practitioners. This is not for laypersons to seek legal advice. <e-trademarks at oppedahl-lists.com<mailto:e-trademarks at oppedahl-lists.com>>
Cc: Carl Oppedahl <carl at oppedahl.com<mailto:carl at oppedahl.com>>
Subject: [E-trademarks] driving 80 miles? (was Trademark Employee Exodus? No Evidence So Far)

EXTERNAL EMAIL
On 2/13/2025 2:46 PM, Ronni Jillions wrote:
Not only managers, but also staff members.  My niece works as an admin, lives in Winchester, and has had to return to office.  She is not happy.
Google maps says Winchester is 80 miles from Alexandria.  Isn't there something in the work-from-home stuff about how it makes a big difference if the person is more than 50 miles from the office?  Not that I really understand it, but I thought I read someplace that if the person lives more than 50 miles away, the agency would have to pay to relocate the employee, or otherwise would need to cut them slack on having to give up the work-from-home?
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