In the Senate of the United States, 

December 13, 2010. 

Resolved, That the bill from the House of Representatives (H.R. 628) entitled ‘‘An Act to establish a pilot program in certain United States district courts to encourage enhancement of expertise in patent cases among district 

judges.’’, do pass with the following 

AMENDMENT: 

Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the 

following: 

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 1 

9 or more issues arising under any Act of Con-
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1 gress relating to patents or plant variety protec2 tion are required to be decided, are designated 

3 by the chief judge of the court to hear those 

4 cases; 

5 (B) cases described in subparagraph (A) 

6 are randomly assigned to the judges of the dis7 trict court, regardless of whether the judges are 

8 designated under subparagraph (A); 

9 (C) a judge not designated under subpara10 graph (A) to whom a case is assigned under 

11 subparagraph (B) may decline to accept the 

12 case; and 

13 (D) a case declined under subparagraph 

14 (C) is randomly reassigned to 1 of those judges 

15 of the court designated under subparagraph 

16 (A). 

17 (2) SENIOR JUDGES.—Senior judges of a dis18 trict court may be designated under paragraph 

19 (1)(A) if at least 1 judge of the court in regular ac20 tive service is also so designated. 

21 (3) RIGHT TO TRANSFER CASES PRESERVED.— 

22 This section shall not be construed to limit the abil23 ity of a judge to request the reassignment of or oth24 erwise transfer a case to which the judge is assigned 
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1 under this section, in accordance with otherwise ap2 plicable rules of the court. 

3 (b) DESIGNATION.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months 

5 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Di6 rector of the Administrative Office of the United 

7 States Courts shall designate not less than 6 United 

8 States district courts, in at least 3 different judicial 

9 circuits, in which the program established under 

10 subsection (a) will be carried out. 

11 (2) CRITERIA FOR DESIGNATIONS.— 

12 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall 

13 make designations under paragraph (1) from— 

14 (i) the 15 district courts in which the 

15 largest number of patent and plant variety 

16 protection cases were filed in the most re17 cent calendar year that has ended; or 

18 (ii) the district courts that have 

19 adopted, or certified to the Director the in20 tention to adopt, local rules for patent and 

21 plant variety protection cases. 

22 (B) SELECTION OF COURTS.—From 

23 amongst the district courts that satisfy the cri24 teria for designation under this subsection, the 

25 Director shall select— 
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1 (i) 3 district courts that each have at 

2 least 10 district judges authorized to be 

3 appointed by the President, whether under 

4 section 133(a) of title 28, United States 

5 Code, or on a temporary basis under any 

6 other provision of law, and at least 3 

7 judges of the court have made the request 

8 under subsection (a)(1)(A); and 

9 (ii) 3 district courts that each have 

10 fewer than 10 district judges authorized to 

11 be appointed by the President, whether 

12 under section 133(a) of title 28, United 

13 States Code, or on a temporary basis 

14 under any other provision of law, and at 

15 least 2 judges of the court have made the 

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

17 (c) DURATION.—The program established under sub18 section (a) shall terminate 10 years after the end of the 

19 6-month period described in subsection (b). 

20 (d) APPLICABILITY.—The program established under 

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

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

23 the date of such designation. 

24 (e) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.— 
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—At the times specified in 

2 paragraph (2), the Director of the Administrative 

3 Office of the United States Courts, in consultation 

4 with the chief judge of each of the district courts 

5 designated under subsection (b) and the Director of 

6 the Federal Judicial Center, shall submit to the 

7 Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Rep8 resentatives and the Committee on the Judiciary of 

9 the Senate a report on the pilot program established 

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

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

12 program has succeeded in developing expertise 

13 in patent and plant variety protection cases 

14 among the district judges of the district courts 

15 so designated; 

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

17 program has improved the efficiency of the 

18 courts involved by reason of such expertise; 

19 (C) with respect to patent cases handled by 

20 the judges designated pursuant to subsection 

21 (a)(1)(A) and judges not so designated, a com22 parison between the 2 groups of judges with re23 spect to— 

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

25 Appeals for the Federal Circuit, of such 
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1 cases on the issues of claim construction 

2 and substantive patent law; and 

3 (ii) the period of time elapsed from 

4 the date on which a case is filed to the 

5 date on which trial begins or summary 

6 judgment is entered; 

7 (D) a discussion of any evidence indicating 

8 that litigants select certain of the judicial dis9 tricts designated under subsection (b) in an at10 tempt to ensure a given outcome; and 

11 (E) an analysis of whether the pilot pro12 gram should be extended to other district 

13 courts, or should be made permanent and apply 

14 to all district courts. 

15 (2) TIMETABLE FOR REPORTS.—The times re16 ferred to in paragraph (1) are— 

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

18 and 3 months after the end of the 6-month pe19 riod described in subsection (b); and 

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

21 described in subparagraph (A). 

22 (3) PERIODIC REPORTS.—The Director of the 

23 Administrative Office of the United States Courts, 

24 in consultation with the chief judge of each of the 

25 district courts designated under subsection (b) and 
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1 the Director of the Federal Judicial Center, shall 

2 keep the committees referred to in paragraph (1) in3 formed, on a periodic basis while the pilot program 

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

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

Attest: 

Secretary. 
111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H.R. 628 

AMENDMENT