The announcement comes amid the ongoing federal government shutdown and follows the recent departure of longtime director Molly Kocialski, who led the Rocky Mountain Regional Outreach Office. The Denver-based Rocky Mountain Regional Outreach Office was established in 2014 as the first U.S. Patent and Trademark Office satellite outside Washington, D.C. But since President Trump took office, Kocialski says that's been next to impossible. In a press conference on Wednesday, Bennet said he was "disappointed" to hear the patent office closing. “A typical regional office requires more than $1 million in leased office space and overhead expenses,” the federal agency said in a statement.