[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4558 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4558

   To enhance fairness in compensating owners of patents used by the 
                             United States.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 9, 1994

  Mr. Frost introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To enhance fairness in compensating owners of patents used by the 
                             United States.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. JUST COMPENSATION.

    (a) Amendment.--Section 1498(a) of title 28, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end of the first paragraph the following: 
``Reasonable and entire compensation shall include the owner's 
reasonable costs, including reasonable fees for expert witnesses and 
attorneys, in pursuing the action if the owner is an independent 
inventor, a nonprofit organization, or an entity that had no more than 
500 employees at any time during the 5-year period preceding the use or 
manufacture of the patented invention by or for the United States.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
apply to actions under section 1498(a) of title 28, United States Code, 
that are pending on, or brought on or after, January 1, 1993.

                                 <all>