Radio pioneer Arthur E. Bessey lived and worked in Sunnyvale in the early 1900s, building powerful radio transmitters and manufacturing state-of-the-art Echophone radios. The Hewlett-Packard corporation was born in a small Palo Alto garage in 1939 and grew from a two-man operation into one of the largest technology companies in the world. In 1976, Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs released the first Apple computer, and now Apple's offices overlook Highway 280 in Cupertino.

But the city of Sunnyvale has played a special role in this valley's world of invention.

In an early effort to promote and serve further innovations in Silicon Valley, Sunnyvale, in 1963, opened a Patent and Trademark Depository Library, run through the Sunnyvale Public Library.

In 1994—in an attempt to run programs that could pay for the depository library—the city joined efforts with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and became the Sunnyvale Center for Innovation, Invention and Ideas, also known as Sc[i]3.

For 12 years, Sc[i]³ offered inventors, patent attorneys and other visitors access to patenting and trademark information, seminars on intellectual property laws and procedures and other resources for anyone interested in patents and trademarks.

"Professionally, Sc[i]³ is exceptionally useful, because here in Silicon Valley, we're thousands of miles away from the U.S. Patent Office in Washington, D.C.," Sunnyvale City Councilman Otto Lee—a patent attorney—said.

The closest library of similar use is at Texas A & M University.

But on Oct. 19, the city council voted 4-2 to close Sc[i]³ in 12 weeks. Only Vice Mayor Dean Chu and Lee voted against the final closing.

Lee—who has gone through many of the courses offered at Sc[i]³—said the training and opportunities were unique, and he wasn't ready to "throw in the towel" yet. He said that each month, at least one member of his staff at the Intellectual Property Law Group LLC is enrolled in a course at Sc[i]³.

"Everybody agrees it's a wonderful resource and it has been for a long time," said Councilman Fred Fowler. "But it's also been a costly resource."

Due to an outpouring of support for the center through emails and letters, Sc[i]³ earned a stay of execution. On Oct. 26, the council approved a motion to revisit the issue on Nov. 9 and then make a final decision.

"This is not just a Sunnyvale issue by any means," Lee said. "This is an issue of the high-tech and patent communities wanting to keep it alive," Lee said.

From the beginning, Sc[i]³ was unable to support itself, even though the partnership between the city and the United States Patent and Trademark Office was supposed to make it fully cost-recovering.

After the partnership began, Sc[i]³ began offering seminars and other services for which it could collect fees from participants.

But by July 2001 those running Sc[i]³ told the council that it was still unable to recover all costs associated with running the program. In January 2002, staff was reduced from six full-time-equivalent positions—meaning enough staff time devoted to the project to equal that of six full-time employees—to just over 2.5 positions, and Sc[i]³ was moved from its own office at 465 S. Mathilda Ave. to the library.

But even after being downsized, Sc[i]³ required a city subsidy of $19,980 in 2002 and $34,074 in 2003.

In addition, although people from all over the state use Sc[i]³'s resources, only Sunnyvale was paying for it, and Mayor John Howe said that in times of tight budgets, money that would go to providing a regional service should be directed toward Sunnyvale-specific needs.

In the past year, technical problems and falling enrollment have forced the cancellation of 24 classes and the rescheduling of 12.

With an estimated subsidy of $55,588 for another year of operation, the council decided during the budget cycle to look at alternatives to running Sc[i]³. One of those options was to cut all fee-based programs, including seminars and special educational operations. They would also end the partnership with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

The council has discussed possibly moving Sc[i]³ to a local university like Santa Clara or Stanford or seeking private funding to support the center. Lee said private funding might be an easy option, because if the local legal community comes together, the $55,000 needed to keep it open can be easily raised.

"Being a patent attorney myself, I really do understand the value Sc[i]³ brings, not just to Sunnyvale, but to the entire region and intellectual property community," Lee said.