And on Nov. 9, Sc[i]³ found its champion—Sunnyvale resident Mikio Ishimaru.

After speaking in support of the center at past meetings, Ishimaru, former Director of Technology Law for Advanced Micro Devices, stepped forward to save Sc[i]³ . He plans to find outside funding for the program so the city will not have to continue subsidizing it.

The final motion approved—made by Councilman Otto Lee—called for a stay of execution, with the city not cutting funding until June 30, 2005. If Ishimaru and his supporters can come up with a viable plan by the end of February, and have it implemented by the cutoff date, Sc[i]³ will continue. The council also approved a plan to bring the advisory board to Sc[i]³ back, to help with rescue efforts.

Ishimaru said he thinks he'll be able to

rescue Sc[i]3 because there is now a focused interest from the intellectual property community—many of whom gave him business cards and pledged support to his efforts.

"It's really important to have vision, and its really important to have people who are interested in that vision, and here in the South Bay community, we have those people," Ishimaru said.

One of the problems Ishimaru said he sees with past efforts to save Sc[i]³ is that there was never anything organized. To start the effort, he drafted a seven-part business plan for the patent library, which includes enlisting the help of local intellectual property attorneys, high-tech firms and other organizations to contribute time and funding to the library. He said he hopes to also come up with a working outline of what will be done to keep Sc[i]³ running in Sunnyvale as it has for more than 40 years.

The program had its beginnings in 1963 when Sunnyvale opened a Patent and Trademark Depository Library, run through the Sunnyvale Public Library. Ten years ago, the city joined efforts with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and the program became the Sunnyvale Center for Innovation, Invention and Ideas, also known as Sc[i]³. The partnership was meant to make the patent library self-sufficient by charging users for services.

For the past decade, Sc[i]³ has offered seminars on intellectual property laws and procedures and other resources for anyone interested in patents and trademarks, but despite efforts to generate revenue, the patent library was never self-sustaining, and in recent years required substantial city subsidies. In 2003, the council allocated $34,074 to keep the library afloat.

Facing an almost $56,000 subsidy this year, the council set out to find alternatives to subsidizing Sc[i]³ again. Finding no alternatives, the council voted to close the patent library on Oct. 19 in a 4-2 vote. But due to an outpouring of email support, the council voted on Oct. 26 to reconsider.

Many of the supporters are patent attorneys and inventors from the Bay Area who have taken advantage of courses or services at the library.

The only voice against keeping Sc[i]³ open came from library trustee Jim Griffith, who—after Mayor John Howe commended him for his bravery for offering an opposing view—said the board had voted 3-2 to close Sc[i]³ to free funding for more Sunnyvale-specific services.

"The board supports Sc[i]³; it's a useful service that we value, but we voted to cut it to fund programs that we valued more," Griffith said. "We certainly hope Sc[i]³ succeeds with the outside funding."

Councilman and patent attorney Lee—who has fought to keep Sc[i]³ alive—said the patent library is an important part of Sunnyvale's role as the "heart of Silicon Valley."

"If we want to keep companies coming to Sunnyvale, we need something different, because we don't have cheaper labor than India," Lee said, referring to the outsourcing of many high-tech jobs to other parts of the world. "Sc[i]³ is part of that difference."

For information on the Sc[i]³ plan, or to get involved, email Mikio Ishimaru at mikio@ishimarulaw.com