[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2391 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2391

   To amend title 35, United States Code, to promote research among 
        universities, the public sector, and private enterprise.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 9, 2003

 Mr. Smith of Texas (for himself, Mr. Berman, Mr. Conyers, Mr. Coble, 
   Mr. Goodlatte, Mr. Green of Wisconsin, Ms. Hart, Mr. Boucher, Ms. 
 Lofgren, Mr. Wexler, and Ms. Baldwin) introduced the following bill; 
          which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend title 35, United States Code, to promote research among 
        universities, the public sector, and private enterprise.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Cooperative Research and Technology 
Enhancement (CREATE) Act of 2003''.

SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON NONPUBLIC INFORMATION IN OBVIOUSNESS 
              DETERMINATIONS.

    (a) Conditions for Patentability; Novelty.--Section 102(f) of title 
35, United States Code, is amended by inserting after ``patented,'' the 
following: ``except that subject matter under this subsection shall not 
be considered prior art or as evidence of obviousness under section 103 
of this title,''.
    (b) Conditions for Patentability; Nonobviousness.--Section 103(c) 
of title 35, United States Code, is amended to read as follows:
    ``(c) Subject matter developed by another person, which qualifies 
as prior art only under one or both of subsections (e) and (g) of 
section 102 of this title, shall not preclude patentability under this 
section where the subject matter and the claimed invention were, at the 
time of the earliest filing date for which a benefit is sought under 
this title, owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of 
assignment to the same person.''.

SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    (a) In General.--The amendments made by this Act shall apply to any 
patent granted before, on, or after the date of the enactment of this 
Act.
    (b) Special Rule.--The amendments made by this Act shall not affect 
any final decision of a court or the United States Patent and Trademark 
Office rendered before the date of the enactment of this Act, and shall 
not affect the right of any party in any action pending before the 
United States Patent and Trademark Office or a court on the date of the 
enactment of this Act to have that party's rights determined on the 
basis of the provisions of title 35, United States Code, in effect on 
the day before the date of the enactment of this Act.
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