[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2369 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2369

  To amend title 35, United States Code, to provide that certain tax 
    planning inventions are not patentable, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           November 15, 2007

Mr. Baucus (for himself, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Levin, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Obama, 
 and Mr. Bingaman) introduced the following bill; which was read twice 
             and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend title 35, United States Code, to provide that certain tax 
    planning inventions are not patentable, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. TAX PLANNING INVENTIONS NOT PATENTABLE.

    (a) In General.--Section 101 of title 35, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) by striking ``Whoever'' and inserting ``(a) Patentable 
        Inventions.--Whoever'', and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b) Tax Planning Inventions.--
            ``(1) Unpatentable subject matter.--A patent may not be 
        obtained for a tax planning invention.
            ``(2) Definitions.--For purposes of paragraph (1)--
                    ``(A) the term `tax planning invention' means a 
                plan, strategy, technique, scheme, process, or system 
                that is designed to reduce, minimize, avoid, or defer, 
                or has, when implemented, the effect of reducing, 
                minimizing, avoiding, or deferring, a taxpayer's tax 
                liability or is designed to facilitate compliance with 
                tax laws, but does not include tax preparation software 
                and other tools or systems used solely to prepare tax 
                or information returns,
                    ``(B) the term `taxpayer' means an individual, 
                entity, or other person (as defined in section 7701 of 
                the Internal Revenue Code of 1986),
                    ``(C) the terms `tax', `tax laws', `tax liability', 
                and `taxation' refer to any Federal, State, county, 
                city, municipality, foreign, or other governmental 
                levy, assessment, or imposition, whether measured by 
                income, value, or otherwise, and
                    ``(D) the term `State' means each of the several 
                States, the District of Columbia, and any commonwealth, 
                territory, or possession of the United States.''.
    (b) Applicability.--The amendments made by this section--
            (1) shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this 
        Act,
            (2) shall apply to any application for patent or 
        application for a reissue patent that is--
                    (A) filed on or after the date of the enactment of 
                this Act, or
                    (B) filed before that date if a patent or reissue 
                patent has not been issued pursuant to the application 
                as of that date, and
            (3) shall not be construed as validating any patent issued 
        before the date of the enactment of this Act for an invention 
        described in section 101(b) of title 35, United States Code, as 
        added by this section.
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