IIB 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5418 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 29, 2006 

Received 

NOVEMBER 13, 2006 

Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

AN ACT 

To establish a pilot program in certain United States district 

courts to encourage enhancement of expertise in patent 

cases among district judges. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. PILOT PROGRAM IN CERTAIN DISTRICT 

2 COURTS. 

3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is established a pro5 gram, in each of the United States district courts 

6 designated under subsection (b), under which— 

7 (A) those district judges of that district 

8 court who request to hear cases under which 

9 one or more issues arising under any Act of 

10 Congress relating to patents or plant variety 

11 protection must be decided, are designated by 

12 the chief judge of the court to hear those cases; 

13 (B) cases described in subparagraph (A) 

14 are randomly assigned to the judges of the dis15 trict court, regardless of whether the judges are 

16 designated under subparagraph (A); 

17 (C) a judge not designated under subpara18 graph (A) to whom a case is assigned under 

19 subparagraph (B) may decline to accept the 

20 case; and 

21 (D) a case declined under subparagraph 

22 (C) is randomly reassigned to one of those 

23 judges of the court designated under subpara24 graph (A). 

25 (2) SENIOR JUDGES.—Senior judges of a dis26 trict court may be designated under paragraph 


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1 (1)(A) if at least 1 judge of the court in regular ac2 tive service is also so designated. 

3 (3) RIGHT TO TRANSFER CASES PRESERVED.— 

4 This section shall not be construed to limit the abil5 ity of a judge to request the reassignment of or oth6 erwise transfer a case to which the judge is assigned 

7 under this section, in accordance with otherwise ap8 plicable rules of the court. 

9 (b) DESIGNATION.—The Director of the Administra10 tive Office of the United States Courts shall, not later 

11 than 6 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, 

12 designate not less than 5 United States district courts, 

13 in at least 3 different judicial circuits, in which the pro14 gram established under subsection (a) will be carried out. 

15 The Director shall make such designation from among the 

16 15 district courts in which the largest number of patent 

17 and plant variety protection cases were filed in the most 

18 recent calendar year that has ended, except that the Direc19 tor may only designate a court in which— 

20 (1) at least 10 district judges are authorized to 

21 be appointed by the President, whether under sec22 tion 133(a) of title 28, United States Code, or on a 

23 temporary basis under other provisions of law; and 

24 (2) at least 3 judges of the court have made the 

25 request under subsection (a)(1)(A). 


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1 (c) DURATION.—The program established under sub2 section (a) shall terminate 10 years after the end of the 

3 6-month period described in subsection (b). 

4 (d) APPLICABILITY.—The program established under 

5 subsection (a) shall apply in a district court designated 

6 under subsection (b) only to cases commenced on or after 

7 the date of such designation. 

8 (e) REPORTING TO CONGRESS.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—At the times specified in 

10 paragraph (2), the Director of the Administrative 

11 Office of the United States Courts, in consultation 

12 with the chief judge of each of the district courts 

13 designated under subsection (b) and the Director of 

14 the Federal Judicial Center, shall submit to the 

15 Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Rep16 resentatives and the Committee on the Judiciary of 

17 the Senate a report on the pilot program established 

18 under subsection (a). The report shall include— 

19 (A) an analysis of the extent to which the 

20 program has succeeded in developing expertise 

21 in patent and plant variety protection cases 

22 among the district judges of the district courts 

23 so designated; 


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1 (B) an analysis of the extent to which the 

2 program has improved the efficiency of the 

3 courts involved by reason of such expertise; 

4 (C) with respect to patent cases handled by 

5 the judges designated pursuant to subsection 

6 (a)(1)(A) and judges not so designated, a com7 parison between the 2 groups of judges with re8 spect to— 

9 (i) the rate of reversal by the Court of 

10 Appeals for the Federal Circuit, of such 

11 cases on the issues of claim construction 

12 and substantive patent law; and 

13 (ii) the period of time elapsed from 

14 the date on which a case is filed to the 

15 date on which trial begins or summary 

16 judgment is entered; 

17 (D) a discussion of any evidence indicating 

18 that litigants select certain of the judicial dis19 tricts designated under subsection (b) in an at20 tempt to ensure a given outcome; and 

21 (E) an analysis of whether the pilot pro22 gram should be extended to other district 

23 courts, or should be made permanent and apply 

24 to all district courts. 


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1 (2) TIMETABLE FOR REPORTS.—The times re2 ferred to in paragraph (1) are— 

3 (A) not later than the date that is 5 years 

4 and 3 months after the end of the 6-month pe5 riod described in subsection (b); and 

6 (B) not later than 5 years after the date 

7 described in subparagraph (A). 

8 (3) PERIODIC REPORTING.—The Director of the 

9 Administrative Office of the United States Courts, 

10 in consultation with the chief judge of each of the 

11 district courts designated under subsection (b) and 

12 the Director of the Federal Judicial Center, shall 

13 keep the committees referred to in paragraph (1) in14 formed, on a periodic basis while the pilot program 

15 is in effect, with respect to the matters referred to 

16 in subparagraphs (A) through (E) of paragraph (1). 

17 (f) AUTHORIZATION FOR TRAINING AND CLERK18 SHIPS.—In addition to any other funds made available to 

19 carry out this section, there is authorized to be appro20 priated not less than $5,000,000 in each fiscal year for— 

21 (1) educational and professional development of 

22 those district judges designated under subsection 

23 (a)(1)(A) in matters relating to patents and plant 

24 variety protection; and 


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1 (2) compensation of law clerks with expertise in 

2 technical matters arising in patent and plant variety 

3 protection cases, to be appointed by the courts des4 ignated under subsection (b) to assist those courts 

5 in such cases. 

6 Amounts made available pursuant to this subsection shall 

7 remain available until expended. 

Passed the House of Representatives September 28, 

2006. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS 

Clerk. 


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