107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2047

AN ACT

To authorize appropriations for the United States

Patent and Trademark Office for fiscal year2002, and for other purposes.
107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2047

AN ACT

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

7 United States Patent and Trademark Office for salaries

8 and necessary expenses for fiscal year 2002 an amount

9 equal to the fees collected in fiscal year 2002 under title

10 35, United States Code, and the Trademark Act of 1946

11 (15 U.S.C. 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

16 and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark

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

18 during the 3-year period beginning October 1, 2001, de19 velop an electronic system for the filing and processing

20 of patent and 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, main2 tain, and search electronically the contents and

3 history of each application.

4 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Of

5 amounts authorized under section 2, there is authorized

6 to be appropriated to carry out subsection (a) of this sec7 tion not more than $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2002.

8 Amounts made available pursuant to this subsection shall

9 remain 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 meth15 ods by which the United States Patent and Trademark

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

17 1, 2002—

18 (1) enhance patent and trademark quality;

19 (2) reduce patent and trademark pendency; and

20 (3) develop and implement an effective elec21 tronic system for use by the Patent and Trademark

22 Office and the public for all aspects of the patent

23 and trademark processes, including, in addition to

24 the elements set forth in section 3, searching, exam-
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1 ining, communicating, publishing, and making pub2 licly available, 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.—

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

10 4 months after the date of the enactment of this Act,

11 whichever is later, submit the plan developed under sub12 section (a) to the Committees on the Judiciary of the

13 House of Representatives and the Senate.

14 SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.

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

Passed the House of Representatives November 6,

2001.

Attest:

Clerk.