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Union Calendar No. 112

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2047

[Report No. 107–190]

To authorize appropriations for the United States Patent and Trademark

Office for fiscal year 2002, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 5, 2001

Mr. COBLE (for himself, Mr. BERMAN, and Mr. CONYERS) introduced the

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

AUGUST 2, 2001

Additional sponsors: Mr. ISAKSON and Mr. SMITH of Texas

AUGUST 2, 2001

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on June 5, 2001]

A BILL

To authorize appropriations for the United States Patent

and Trademark Office for fiscal year 2002, and for other

purposes.

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. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Patent and Trademark

3 Office Authorization Act of 2002’’.

4 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF AMOUNTS AVAILABLE TO THE

5 PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE.

6 There are authorized to be appropriated to the United

7 States Patent and Trademark Office for salaries and nec8 essary expenses for fiscal year 2002 an amount equal to

9 the fees collected in fiscal year 2002 under title 35, United

10 States Code, and the Trademark Act of 1946 (15 U.S.C.

11 1051 et seq.).

12 SEC. 3. ELECTRONIC FILING AND PROCESSING OF PATENT

13 AND TRADEMARK APPLICATIONS.

14 (a) ELECTRONIC FILING AND PROCESSING.—The

15 Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and

16 Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office

17 (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Director’’) shall, during the

18 3-year period beginning October 1, 2001, develop an elec19 tronic system for the filing and processing of patent and

20 trademark applications, that—

21 (1) is user friendly; and

22 (2) includes the necessary infrastructure—

23 (A) to allow examiners and applicants to

24 send all communications electronically; and
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1 (B) to allow the Office to process, maintain,

2 and search electronically the contents and his3 tory of each application.

4 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Of

5 amounts authorized under section 2, there is authorized to

6 be appropriated to carry out subsection (a) of this section

7 not more than $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2002. Amounts

8 made available pursuant to this subsection shall remain

9 available until expended.

10 SEC. 4. STRATEGIC PLAN.

11 (a) DEVELOPMENT OF PLAN.—The Director shall, in

12 close consultation with the Patent Public Advisory Com13 mittee and the Trademark Public Advisory Committee, de14 velop a strategic plan that sets forth the goals and methods

15 by which the United States Patent and Trademark Office

16 will, during the 5-year period beginning on October 1,

17 2002—

18 (1) enhance patent and trademark quality;

19 (2) reduce patent and trademark pendency; and

20 (3) develop and implement an effective electronic

21 system for use by the Patent and Trademark Office

22 and the public for all aspects of the patent and trade23 mark processes, including, in addition to the elements

24 set forth in section 3, searching, examining, commu-
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1 nicating, publishing, and making publicly available,

2 patents and trademark registrations.

3 The strategic plan shall include milestones and objective

4 and meaningful criteria for evaluating the progress and

5 successful achievement of the plan. The Director shall con6 sult with the Public Advisory Committees with respect to

7 the development of each aspect of the strategic plan.

8 (b) REPORT TO CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES.—The

9 Director shall, not later than January 15, 2002, or 4

10 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, whichever

11 is later, submit the plan developed under subsection (a) to

12 the Committees on the Judiciary of the House of Represent13 atives and the Senate.

14 SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.

15 This Act shall take effect on October 1, 2001.

Union Calendar No. 112

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2047

[Report No. 107–190]

A BILL

To authorize appropriations for the United States

Patent and Trademark Office for fiscal year2002, and for other purposes.

AUGUST 2, 2001

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union,

and ordered to be printed