[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 880 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







104th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 880

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              June 5, 1995

Mrs. Hutchison introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               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) In General.--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, 1995.
                                 <all>