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107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2047

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

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,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

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

5 Office Authorization Act of 2002’’.

6 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF AMOUNTS AVAILABLE TO THE

7 PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE.

8 There are authorized to be appropriated to the

9 United States Patent and Trademark Office for salaries

10 and necessary expenses for fiscal year 2002 an amount
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1 equal to the fees collected in fiscal year 2002 under title

2 35, United States Code, and the Trademark Act of 1946

3 (15 U.S.C. 1051 et seq.).

4 SEC. 3. ELECTRONIC FILING AND PROCESSING OF PATENT

5 AND TRADEMARK APPLICATIONS.

6 (a) ELECTRONIC FILING AND PROCESSING.—The

7 Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property

8 and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark

9 Office (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Director’’) shall de10 velop an electronic system for the filing and processing

11 of patent and trademark applications, that—

12 (1) is user friendly; and

13 (2) includes the necessary infrastructure—

14 (A) to allow examiners and applicants to

15 send all communications electronically; and

16 (B) to allow the Office to process, main17 tain, and search electronically the contents and

18 history of each application.

19 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is

20 authorized to be appropriated to carry out subsection (a)

21 $50,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2002 and 2003.

22 Amounts made available pursuant to this subsection shall

23 remain available until expended.
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1 SEC. 4. STRATEGIC PLAN.

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

3 close consultation with the Patent Public Advisory Com4 mittee and the Trademark Public Advisory Committee, de5 velop a strategic plan that sets forth the goals and meth6 ods by which the United States Patent and Trademark

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

8 1, 2002—

9 (1) enhance patent and trademark quality;

10 (2) reduce patent and trademark pendency; and

11 (3) develop and implement an effective elec12 tronic system for use by the Patent and Trademark

13 Office and the public for all aspects of the patent

14 and trademark processes, including, in addition to

15 the elements set forth in section 3, searching, exam16 ining, communicating, publishing, and making pub17 licly available, patents and trademark registrations.

18 The strategic plan shall include milestones and objective

19 and meaningful criteria for evaluating the progress and

20 successful achievement of the plan. The Director shall con21 sult with the Public Advisory Committees with respect to

22 the development of each aspect of the strategic plan.

23 (b) REPORT TO CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES.—

24 The Director shall, not later than January 15, 2002, sub25 mit the plan developed under subsection (a) to the Com-
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1 mittees on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives

2 and the Senate.

3 SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.

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

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