[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1056 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1056

 To amend title 35, United States Code, with respect to false marking.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 14, 2011

Mr. Issa (for himself, Mr. Conyers, Mr. Gowdy, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, 
and Mr. Coble) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

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                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 35, United States Code, with respect to false marking.

    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 ``Patent Continuing Disclosure Act''.

SEC. 2. FALSE MARKING.

    Section 292 of title 35, United States Code, is amended by adding 
at the end the following:
    ``(c)(1) Any person who makes, uses, offers for sale, or sells 
within the United States, or imports into the United States, an item 
that is affixed with the word `patent' and is accompanied by a number 
for a patent that has been granted by the Patent and Trademark Office 
to that person for that item shall not be fined under this section 
after the patent expires if--
            ``(A) no change in the manufacturing or production process 
        of the item occurs after the expiration of the patent; or
            ``(B) in a case in which a change in the manufacturing or 
        production process of the item occurs after the expiration of 
        the patent, the word `expired' is placed before the word 
        `patent' or the patent number.
    ``(2) For purposes of this subsection, the term `change in the 
manufacturing or production process' of an item means an intentional 
expansion, enhancement, improvement, or repair, that suspends, for a 
period of at least 24 hours, the normal operating procedures through 
which the item is assembled, made, crafted, manufactured, built, or 
fabricated from individual components or raw materials, or both.''.

SEC. 3. APPLICABILITY.

    The amendment made by section 2 shall apply to any case pending on 
the date of the enactment of this Act and to any case commenced on or 
after such date of enactment.
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