[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 152 (Tuesday, November 6, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H7728-H7730]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE AUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2002

  Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass 
the bill (H.R. 2047) to authorize appropriations for the United States 
Patent and Trademark Office for fiscal year 2002, and for other 
purposes, as amended.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 2047

       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 2002''.

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

       There are authorized to be appropriated to the United 
     States Patent and Trademark Office for salaries and necessary 
     expenses for fiscal year 2002 an amount equal to the fees 
     collected in fiscal year 2002 under title 35, United States 
     Code, and the Trademark Act of 1946 (15 U.S.C. 1051 et seq.).

     SEC. 3. ELECTRONIC FILING AND PROCESSING OF PATENT AND 
                   TRADEMARK APPLICATIONS.

       (a) Electronic Filing and Processing.--The Under Secretary 
     of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the 
     United States Patent and Trademark Office (in this Act 
     referred to as the ``Director'') shall, during the 3-year 
     period beginning October 1, 2001, develop an electronic 
     system for the filing and processing of patent and trademark 
     applications, that--
       (1) is user friendly; and
       (2) includes the necessary infrastructure--
       (A) to allow examiners and applicants to send all 
     communications electronically; and
       (B) to allow the Office to process, maintain, and search 
     electronically the contents and history of each application.
       (b) Authorization of Appropriations.--Of amounts authorized 
     under section 2, there is authorized to be appropriated to 
     carry out subsection (a) of this section not more than 
     $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2002. Amounts made available 
     pursuant to this subsection shall remain available until 
     expended.

     SEC. 4. STRATEGIC PLAN.

       (a) Development of Plan.--The Director shall, in close 
     consultation with the Patent Public Advisory Committee and 
     the Trademark Public Advisory Committee, develop a strategic 
     plan

[[Page H7729]]

     that sets forth the goals and methods by which the United 
     States Patent and Trademark Office will, during the 5-year 
     period beginning on October 1, 2002--
       (1) enhance patent and trademark quality;
       (2) reduce patent and trademark pendency; and
       (3) develop and implement an effective electronic system 
     for use by the Patent and Trademark Office and the public for 
     all aspects of the patent and trademark processes, including, 
     in addition to the elements set forth in section 3, 
     searching, examining, communicating, publishing, and making 
     publicly available, patents and trademark registrations.
     The strategic plan shall include milestones and objective and 
     meaningful criteria for evaluating the progress and 
     successful achievement of the plan. The Director shall 
     consult with the Public Advisory Committees with respect to 
     the development of each aspect of the strategic plan.
       (b) Report to Congressional Committees.--The Director 
     shall, not later than January 15, 2002, or 4 months after the 
     date of the enactment of this Act, whichever is later, submit 
     the plan developed under subsection (a) to the Committees on 
     the Judiciary of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

     SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.

       This Act shall take effect on October 1, 2001.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner) and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. 
Frank) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. 
Sensenbrenner).


                             General Leave

  Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend 
their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 2047, as amended.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Wisconsin?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2047 and urge the House 
to adopt the measure. The purpose of this bill is to authorize the 
Patent and Trademark Office to retain all of the user fee revenue it 
collects in fiscal year 2002 for agency operations subject to 
appropriations. In addition, the PTO is to earmark a portion of this 
revenue to address problems relating to its computer systems and to 
develop a 5-year strategic plan to establish goals and methods by which 
the agency can enhance patent and trademark quality, while reducing 
application pendency.
  The bill will allow us to move forward and to make the PTO a more 
responsive and efficient agency that will better serve the needs of 
inventors and trademark filers.
  I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. FRANK. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I hope we will pass this bill very clearly and 
overwhelmingly. A lot of lip service is paid to the role that 
innovation plays in our economy. The time has come to put our money 
where our mouth is. Indeed, it is not even our money.
  What we are talking about here is trying to change a practice whereby 
patent application fees have been used to support other governmental 
programs, rather than devote all of that to the Patent Office.
  It should be noted that we raised patent fees a few years ago. When 
we raised them, the assumption, the implicit promise, was these fees 
would go to improving the patent process. To take fees from people 
seeking patents and diverting them to other purposes is a grave error. 
We ought to be maximizing our ability to service the innovators in this 
economy, and we do that by allowing these fees to stay here.
  Now, I do want to say, I understand what happens. It is the members 
of the Committee on Appropriations who, from time to time, use some of 
these fees. I do not wish to speak harshly of them. Some of my best 
friends are appropriators, and I hope they remember that at this season 
of conference reports. But they are themselves squeezed when they are 
given responsibilities to fund and inadequate revenues with which to 
fund them. In some cases the temptation is very strong for them to look 
at the revenues at the Patent Office and divert them to other purposes.
  The answer, Mr. Speaker, is not to divert revenues from the Patent 
Office to pay for these other programs, but to stop this practice of 
reducing the Government's revenues by tax cuts that leave us unable to 
afford programs for which there is great demand and great need. In 
other words, this practice of raiding the patent fees to fund other 
programs is one of the negative consequences of reducing government 
revenues through irresponsible tax cuts below the level necessary to 
sustain important government activity.
  So I look forward to passing this bill; and I hope we will be able to 
keep the promise once made that, patent fees having been raised, the 
Patent Office would get the benefit of them.
  Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of 
H.R. 2047, the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) Authorization Act of 
2002.
  The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, located in my congressional 
district, is the agency most involved in the growth of innovation and 
commercial activity in our country.
  Patents and trademark registrations help create new industries and 
high-wage jobs. This process is critical to our global competitiveness 
and technological leadership.
  The PTO is entirely supported with the fees paid by patent and 
trademark applicants. It receives no taxpayer funds.
  Since 1992, however, Congress has been withholding an increasing 
portion of these fees for use in other Department of Commerce agencies. 
More than $800 million has been withheld to date. This alarming 
practice is made worse by the fact that since 1992, the PTO has 
experienced a 75 percent increase in its workload. As a result, the PTO 
is in near-crisis mode and is starved for funding.
  The increasing delays at the PTO--now more than two years to get a 
patent, and getting worse--are intolerable, not just for the companies 
involved but for the whole economy.
  H.R. 2047 takes several important steps to combat these unsettling 
trends. This bill authorizes full funding for the Patent and Trademark 
Office. This bipartisan measure also directs the PTO to develop an 
electronic system for filing and processing of patent and trademark 
applications.
  Furthermore, H.R. 2047 requires the administration to develop a 5-
year strategic plan aimed at improving the quality of issued patents 
and trademarks, while reducing the waiting time.
  In today's economic climate, we as a nation cannot afford to neglect 
the PTO's vital mission of fostering new technologies and protecting 
American inventors. It is absolutely critical that inventors get the 
protection they need to encourage the innovation and the creativity 
that makes this country prosper. Strong patents and trademarks help our 
economy and U.S. consumers.
  This bipartisan bill offers a new approach that will provide adequate 
resources for the PTO to handle its huge workload and enable our 
country to maintain its global leadership in technology and innovation.
  I thank Chairman Coble and Congressman Berman for their leadership on 
H.R. 2047 and urge my colleagues to support it.
  Mr. COBLE. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2047 would help to correct the diversion 
problem at the PTO by authorizing the agency to keep all of the fee 
revenue it raises in fiscal year 2002, subject to appropriations. In 
addition, and consistent with this emphasis on oversight, the 
legislation sets forth two problem areas that PTO should address in the 
coming fiscal year, irrespective of its overall budget: First, the PTO 
Director is required to develop an electronic system for the filing and 
processing of all patent and trademark applications that is user 
friendly and that will allow the Office to process and maintain 
electronically the contents and history of all applications. Fifty-
million dollars are earmarked for this project in fiscal year 2002. 
Second, the Director, in consultation with the Patent and Trademark 
Public Advisory Committees, must develop a strategic plan that 
prescribes the goals and methods by which PTO will enhance patent and 
trademark quality, reduce pendency, and develop a 21st century 
electronic system for the benefit of filers, examiners, and the general 
public.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2047 will allow the patent and trademark 
communities to get more bang for their filing and maintenance buck, 
while enhancing the likelihood that the agency will receive greater 
appropriations in the upcoming fiscal year and in the future. It is a 
bill that benefits the PTO, its users, and the American economy. I urge 
my colleagues to support it.
  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, we all know that the Patent and Trademark 
Office is crucial to America's economy, reviewing technologies and 
granting patents on thousands of new inventions every year. And this 
year along has seen a thirteen percent rise in patent applications.
  We also know the PTO is losing resources and cannot handle the 
increased workload.

[[Page H7730]]

The PTO takes no money from taxpayers; instead, it is fully funded by 
user fees, generating $1 billion per year. Unfortunately, appropriators 
and the administration treat the PTO like a savings and loan and divert 
its money every year for other government programs. To date, over $600 
million in fees has been diverted since 1992. This coming year alone, 
the appropriators are taking $200 million.
  Not surprisingly, this diversion is taking its toll. The PTO cannot 
hire or retain qualified patent examiners with advanced scientific 
degrees; they prefer the more lucrative salaries in the private sector. 
The PTO also cannot update its computer systems to thoroughly search 
databases of information and determine whether patent applications 
really disclose new and nonobvious inventions; this makes it that more 
likely for the PTO to issue a bad patent. Finally, just a few years ago 
it took the PTO 19.5 months to rule on a patent application; it now 
takes 26 months, and is expected to be 38.6 months by 2006. At that 
rate, inventions will be obsolete before they're patented.
  We cannot let the PTO and American inventors continue to suffer this 
way. H.R. 2047--introduced by Chairman Coble, Ranking Member Berman, 
and myself--resolves the problem by letting the PTO keep all of its 
fiscal year 2002 fees. It also lets the PTO use some of its money to 
modernize its electronic filing systems. The bill finally requires the 
PTO to develop a five-year strategic plan explaining what resources it 
needs to better serve its customers. This plan will make it easier for 
Congress to make future oversight decisions.
  I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this legislation.
  Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, the high-tech industry plays a 
prominent role in our economy. That's why it's important to allow the 
U.S. Patent and Trade Office (USPTO) to retain its user fees. Timely 
and quality service provided by the PTO helps spur innovation and 
strengthen our economy.
  H.R. 2047 is a good bill that has three basic components. It allows 
the patent office to retain its fees, which are normally distributed 
for other government operations. This extra funding will speed up the 
processing of patent applications that now takes an average of nearly 
27 months. If these fees continue to be diverted, pendency--the time 
from filing to granting of a patent--may increase to 38 months by 2006.
  In recent years, the number of technology and biotechnology patents 
has increased. Now more than ever, it's important to ensure that the 
PTO has adequate funding through its own fee mechanisms. The PTO must 
produce high quality patents on a timely basis. It is struggling to 
keep up with the workload and lacks new technology that is desperately 
needed to do its job.
  The bill directs and PTO to develop and implement an electronic 
system for filing and processing applications. It also orders the 
director of the patent office to develop a 5-year strategic plan to 
improve and streamline patent operations.
  I urge my colleagues to support this important measure so that the 
PTO can improve its critical role in our economy.
  Mr. FRANK. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 2047, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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