[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 27 (Thursday, March 4, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E308]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK FEE MODERNIZATION ACT OF 2003

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                               speech of

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, March 3, 2004

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Chairman, the PTO is in the midst of a crisis. 
Funded by user fees instead of taxpayers, the PTO generates $1 billion 
in revenues each year. This success has been an Achilles' heel--the 
Administration treats the PTO as a cash cow and diverts hundreds of 
millions of dollars every year for other programs. This is making it 
difficult for the PTO to hire or even retain qualified examiners to 
review patent applications. Our technological advancement and our 
economy can only suffer if Congress sits idly by while this happens.
  This bill remedies this by ensuring the PTO can spend all of the fees 
it collects. I believe ending fee diversion is one of the most 
important signals we can send to spur innovation and encourage new 
technologies and new drugs.
  The bill also incorporates a proposal of mine and Representative 
Kaptur's to maintain a fee deduction for small businesses. Small 
businesses are important to this country's economy, and we should give 
them every incentive to innovate and seek protection for those 
innovations.
  Having said that, I still have concerns about outsourcing. The bill 
would give the PTO the ability to hire private contractors to do patent 
searches. This is problematic for a variety of reasons. First, 
searching old patents and journals is one of the core functions of the 
PTO, giving that job to private companies would be like shutting down 
the FBI and having someone else conduct criminal investigations for the 
Justice Department. Second, no one questions the accuracy and integrity 
of the work of PTO employees, so the need for contractors is 
questionable. Also, there could be conflicts of interest if the 
employee of a contractor doing searches has his or her own patent 
applications pending.
  While the bill will be improved to prevent outsourcing to foreign 
companies and to limit conflicts of interest, some of my concerns 
remain.

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