[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 141 (Monday, October 3, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: October 3, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
         PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE AUTHORIZATION ACT OF 1994

  Mr. HUGHES. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 4608) to authorize appropriations for the Patent and 
Trademark Office in the Department of Commerce for fiscal year 1995, 
and for other purposes, as amended.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 4608

       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 and Trademark Office 
     Authorization Act of 1994''.

     SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF AMOUNTS AVAILABLE TO THE PATENT AND 
                   TRADEMARK OFFICE.

       There is authorized to be appropriated to the Patent and 
     Trademark Office for Salaries and necessary expenses the sum 
     of $107,000,000 for fiscal year 1995, to be derived from 
     deposits in the Patent and Trademark Office Fee Surcharge 
     Fund established under section 10101 of the Omnibus Budget 
     Reconciliation Act of 1990 (35 U.S.C. note).

     SEC. 3. AMOUNTS AUTHORIZED TO BE CARRIED OVER.

       Amounts appropriated or made available pursuant to this Act 
     shall remain available until expended.

     SEC. 4. EMPLOYMENT LEVEL IN PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE.

       Section 3 of title 35, United States Code, is amended by 
     adding at the end the following new subsection:
       ``(f)(1) During the 5-year period beginning on October 1, 
     1994, no reductions may be made in the number of full-time 
     equivalent employees of the Patent and Trademark Office, 
     except to the extent that--
       ``(A) a law is enacted that requires reductions in 
     personnel or positions specifically in the Patent and 
     Trademark Office, or
       ``(B) the Commissioner determines that a reduction in the 
     number of full-time equivalents is in the best interests of 
     the Patent and Trademark Office and the public.
       ``(2) During the 5-year period referred to in paragraph 
     (1), any law imposing a restriction on hiring by executive 
     agencies, or requiring reductions in force in executive 
     agencies, for the purpose of achieving reductions in the 
     Federal work force shall not apply to the Patent and 
     Trademark Office.
       ``(3) A law may not be construed as suspending or modifying 
     this subsection, except to the extent such law specifically 
     refers to or amends this subsection.''.

     SEC. 5. COMPENSATION OF COMMISSIONER.

       Section 3(d) of title 35, United States Code, is amended by 
     striking ``Assistant'' each place it appears and inserting 
     ``Under''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New 
Jersey [Mr. Hughes] will be recognized for 20 minutes, and the 
gentleman from California [Mr. Moorhead] will be recognized for 20 
minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Hughes].
  Mr. HUGHES. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the 
gentleman from Texas [Mr. Brooks], the distinguished chairman of the 
full committee.
  (Mr. BROOKS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. BROOKS. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 4608 authorizes $107 million for the 
activities of the Patent and Trademark Office for fiscal year 1995. 
This money is generated by patent and trademark fees, and from amounts 
deposited in the Patent and Trademark Office fee surcharge fund created 
by the 1990 Budget Act.
  I share the concern of many Members that patent users must pay a 
patent user fee surcharge that is not being fully used to support the 
Patent Office. I hope in the next Congress to work with the appropriate 
administration officials and congressional committees to rectify this 
situation.
  I congratulate Congressman Bill Hughes, chairman of the Subcommittee 
on Intellectual Property and Judicial Administration, for his careful 
oversight of the Patent Office. Congressman Carlos Moorhead, the 
ranking member, also deserves credit for his efforts in this regard.
  I urge the Members to support this bill.
  Mr. MOORHEAD. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, 
and I rise in strong support of H.R. 4608, the PTO authorization bill.
  (Mr. MOORHEAD asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. MOORHEAD. Mr. Speaker, I would like to commend the subcommittee 
chairman, Bill Hughes, for all the good work he has done over the years 
in the area of patents, trademarks and copyrights. It can be a 
complicated area of the law and he mastered it quickly and provided the 
leadership necessary to resolve some very difficult intellectual 
property issues. I also would like to commend our chairman, the 
gentleman from Texas, Jack Brooks, for all of his work in this area and 
I would like to commend my good friend and ranking minority member from 
New York, Ham Fish. He and Bill Hughes will be very much missed next 
Congress.
  I remember in 1990 when we had to increase the Patent and Trademark 
Office fees by almost 70 percent and converted the PTO into an agency 
which is now 100 percent user fee funded. It now receives no taxpayer 
funds. At that time, we promised the patent community that the money 
collected would go toward the making of a better and more efficient 
office. That office is better today than it was in 1990. However, to 
date, the Appropriations Committee has withheld over $50 million 
dollars in user fees. The chairman and I have written letters every 
year to the Appropriations Committee objecting to this process. We have 
tried, in this legislation, to make clear that the money collected in 
user fees is to go for the running and maintenance of the Patent and 
Trademark Office. The Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 was supposed to 
expire next year but it has been extended to 1998. We cannot continue 
to permit this financial drain on this important agency because if we 
do we are going to see the quality and value of an issued patent 
substantially reduced. I believe this legislation is a step in the 
right direction. I urge its adoption.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. HUGHES. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  (Mr. HUGHES asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. HUGHES. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4608, the Patent 
and Trademark Office Authorization Act of 1994. The purpose of H.R. 
4608 is to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 1995 for the Patent 
and Trademark Office [PTO]. H.R. 4608 also provides for the PTO to be 
exempt from Federal workforce reductions and changes the status of the 
PTO commissioner from an Assistant Secretary of Commerce to an Under 
Secretary of Commerce.
  H.R. 4608 authorizes the full amount of funds, $107,000,000, 
collected by the PTO as surcharge fees. It is the hope of the committee 
that during fiscal year 1995, the surcharge fees will be redesignated 
in order to permit the PTO to fully utilize these funds.
  H.R. 4608 exempts the PTO from any Federal workforce reductions 
unless specifically authorized in legislation requiring reductions in 
the PTO. The PTO must be able to carry out its responsibilities.
  The title of the Commissioner of the PTO will be redesignated to an 
Under Secretary of Commerce. This redesignation is appropriate given 
the duties and responsibilities of the office. There are 6 positions in 
the Department of Commerce that presently carry the title of Under 
Secretary. Of these, only two Departments have more employees and a 
larger budget than the Patent and Trademark Office.
  I urge adoption of H.R. 4608.
  I might say, Mr. Speaker, that since this is perhaps the last bill 
that I will be moving to the floor, I want to thank again the ranking 
Republican, the gentleman from California [Mr. Moorhead] for his work 
over the years. I have been very fortunate to have had ranking 
Republicans who are goal oriented, that wanted to get things done. I 
could not have a better partner than I do in the gentleman from 
California [Mr. Moorhead] in a very complicated area of the law, as he 
has indicated, intellectual property and another very important area, 
judicial administration. I want to thank him for the years that he has 
worked together with me on many things. We have accomplished a great 
deal, much to his credit.

                              {time}  1310

  Also, Mr. Speaker, I thank the staffs of the committee. We have an 
excellent professional staff, beginning with our general counsel, 
Hayden Gregory, to my left, and Jarilyn Dupont, Ed O'Connell and Bill 
Patry, who have worked on a myriad of issues before our committee and 
have done yeoman's work.
  I also thank Tom Mooney and Joe Wolfe, who serve as ranking minority 
staff of the committee, for their professional expertise. I also thank 
the chairmen of the subcommittee and the full committee for their work 
over the years. It has been a wonderful working relationship, and I 
thank the gentlemen for that.
  Mr. BROOKS. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. HUGHES. I am happy to yield to the gentleman from Texas, the 
distinguished chairman of the committee.
  Mr. BROOKS. Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to say that the gentleman 
from New Jersey, Bill Hughes, has one of the finest legal minds that 
has ever served on the Committee on the Judiciary. He worked in 
antitrust, he did his homework, he became very competent at it. He did 
the same thing in administrative law, criminal law, and intellectual 
property.
  I would just say, Mr. Speaker, that he has contributed 20 years of 
unexcelled legal excellence to this Congress. I am proud of him, and 
glad to know his as a friend. I think we should accord him the highest 
honors for this.
  Mr. Speaker, I hope as captain of the S.S. Hughes, homeported in St. 
Thomas, he will devote as much time to navigation and seamanship.
  Mr. HUGHES. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished chairman for those 
remarks. I will certainly take that into consideration, I will say to 
the gentleman. I again thank him for those kind words.
  Mr. MOORHEAD. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
California [Mr. Rohrabacher].
  Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Speaker, today by passing this bill we are 
acknowledging the vital role played by patent protection to the 
economic well-being of our people and our economic competitiveness of 
our country's businesses in this new era of global enterprise.
  Mr. Speaker, over the decade our guarantee of 17 years of patent 
protection for new inventions has ensured the investment of private 
research dollars into the development of cutting-edge technology.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to warn my 
colleagues about the insidious attempt now being made to directly 
reduce the patent protection that is now enjoyed by Americans. Although 
not required by GATT, snuck into the implementation legislation to be 
voted on this week is a provision that, once implemented, will cut deep 
into the time our new inventions are protected by patent law.
  Mr. Speaker, every inventors' organization in the country has sounded 
the alarm. Nevertheless, no one seems to hear, because powerful 
interest groups are engaged in a stealth power play, a power play where 
billions of dollars in royalties now being paid to American inventors 
is at stake. Foreign corporations will be able, if these people 
succeed, to use American technology against us without having to pay 
royalties to us for using it.
  This ripoff, hidden in the GATT implementation legislation, Mr. 
Speaker, is more than an insult. It is a threat to America's 
competitive edge. It is a major threat to our future economic well-
being, the economic well-being of all Americans.
  Later this week, Mr. Speaker, when this body votes on the GATT 
implementation legislation, I hope this rip-off of American patent 
rights is understood and this underhanded attack voted down. H.R. 5110 
should be defeated.
  Mr. Speaker, I say that as a free trader, as someone who has 
supported NAFTA. I say we should vote down the GATT implementation 
legislation until this attack on patent rights is taken out. The 
legislation we vote on right now is meaningless and irrelevant if GATT 
implementation legislation guts the patent rights of Americans.
  Mr. HUGHES. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I just want to say to the gentleman from California that 
as he knows, GATT is not in this bill. This is a reauthorization. I 
understand the gentleman's concern about the 20-year term. I understand 
there is some opposition to that. While we are on different sides of 
that issue, because I think the 20-year term is in our national 
interest, that really has no relevance to this particular piece of 
legislation, which in no way involves GATT, I might say to my 
colleagues.
  Mr. MOORHEAD. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. HUGHES. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Montgomery). The question is on the 
motion offered by the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Hughes] that the 
House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 4608, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the grounds 
that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum 
is not present.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 5 of rule I, and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.
  The point of no quorum is considered withdrawn.

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