[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1368 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1368

  To amend title 35, United States Code, to create an exception from 
  infringement of design patents for certain component parts used to 
                 repair another article of manufacture.


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                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 25, 2009

Mr. Whitehouse introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

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                                 A BILL


 
  To amend title 35, United States Code, to create an exception from 
  infringement of design patents for certain component parts used to 
                 repair another article of manufacture.

    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 ``Access to Repair Parts Act''.

SEC. 2. EXCEPTION FROM INFRINGEMENT FOR CERTAIN COMPONENT PARTS.

    (a) In General.--Section 271 of title 35, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(j) It shall not be an act of infringement of any design patent 
to make, use, offer to sell, or sell within the United States or import 
into the United States any article of manufacture that itself 
constitutes a component part of another article of manufacture, if the 
sole purpose of the component part is for the repair of the article of 
manufacture of which it is a part so as to restore its original 
appearance.''.
    (b) Applicability.--The amendment made by subsection (a) applies to 
acts done on or after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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