II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 299 

To establish a pilot program in certain United States district courts to 

encourage enhancement of expertise in patent cases among district judges. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 22, 2009 

Mr. SPECTER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. PILOT PROGRAM IN CERTAIN DISTRICT 

4 COURTS. 

5 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is established a pro7 gram, in each of the United States district courts 

8 designated under subsection (b), under which— 

9 (A) those district judges of that district 

10 court who request to hear cases under which 1 


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1 or more issues arising under any Act of Con2 gress relating to patents or plant variety protec3 tion are required to be decided, are designated 

4 by the chief judge of the court to hear those 

5 cases; 

6 (B) cases described in subparagraph (A) 

7 are randomly assigned to the judges of the dis8 trict court, regardless of whether the judges are 

9 designated under subparagraph (A); 

10 (C) a judge not designated under subpara11 graph (A) to whom a case is assigned under 

12 subparagraph (B) may decline to accept the 

13 case; and 

14 (D) a case declined under subparagraph 

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

16 of the court designated under subparagraph 

17 (A). 

18 (2) SENIOR JUDGES.—Senior judges of a dis19 trict court may be designated under paragraph 

20 (1)(A) if at least 1 judge of the court in regular ac21 tive service is also so designated. 

22 (3) RIGHT TO TRANSFER CASES PRESERVED.— 

23 This section shall not be construed to limit the abil24 ity of a judge to request the reassignment of or oth25 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.—Except as provided 

13 under subparagraph (B), the Director shall 

14 make designations under paragraph (1) from— 

15 (i) the 15 district courts in which the 

16 largest number of patent and plant variety 

17 protection cases were filed in the most re18 cent calendar year that has ended; or 

19 (ii) the district courts that have 

20 adopted local rules for patent and plant va21 riety protection cases. 

22 (B) EXCEPTIONS.—The Director may only 

23 designate a court in which— 

24 (i) at least 10 district judges are au25 thorized to be appointed by the President, 


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1 whether under section 133(a) of title 28, 

2 United States Code, or on a temporary 

3 basis under other provisions of law; and 

4 (ii) at least 3 judges of the court have 

5 made the request under subsection 

6 (a)(1)(A). 

7 (c) DURATION.—The program established under sub8 section (a) shall terminate 10 years after the end of the 

9 6-month period described in subsection (b). 

10 (d) APPLICABILITY.—The program established under 

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

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

13 the date of such designation. 

14 (e) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.— 

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

16 paragraph (2), the Director of the Administrative 

17 Office of the United States Courts, in consultation 

18 with the chief judge of each of the district courts 

19 designated under subsection (b) and the Director of 

20 the Federal Judicial Center, shall submit to the 

21 Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Rep22 resentatives and the Committee on the Judiciary of 

23 the Senate a report on the pilot program established 

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


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

2 program has succeeded in developing expertise 

3 in patent and plant variety protection cases 

4 among the district judges of the district courts 

5 so designated; 

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

7 program has improved the efficiency of the 

8 courts involved by reason of such expertise; 

9 (C) with respect to patent cases handled by 

10 the judges designated pursuant to subsection 

11 (a)(1)(A) and judges not so designated, a com12 parison between the 2 groups of judges with re13 spect to— 

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

15 Appeals for the Federal Circuit, of such 

16 cases on the issues of claim construction 

17 and substantive patent law; and 

18 (ii) the period of time elapsed from 

19 the date on which a case is filed to the 

20 date on which trial begins or summary 

21 judgment is entered; 

22 (D) a discussion of any evidence indicating 

23 that litigants select certain of the judicial dis24 tricts designated under subsection (b) in an at25 tempt to ensure a given outcome; and 


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1 (E) an analysis of whether the pilot pro2 gram should be extended to other district 

3 courts, or should be made permanent and apply 

4 to all district courts. 

5 (2) TIMETABLE FOR REPORTS.—The times re6 ferred to in paragraph (1) are— 

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

8 and 3 months after the end of the 6-month pe9 riod described in subsection (b); and 

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

11 described in subparagraph (A). 

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

13 Administrative Office of the United States Courts, 

14 in consultation with the chief judge of each of the 

15 district courts designated under subsection (b) and 

16 the Director of the Federal Judicial Center, shall 

17 keep the committees referred to in paragraph (1) in18 formed, on a periodic basis while the pilot program 

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

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

21 (f) AUTHORIZATION FOR TRAINING AND CLERK22 SHIPS.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—In addition to any other 

24 funds made available to carry out this section, there 


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1 are authorized to be appropriated not less than 

2 $5,000,000 in each fiscal year for— 

3 (A) educational and professional develop4 ment of those district judges designated under 

5 subsection (a)(1)(A) in matters relating to pat6 ents and plant variety protection; and 

7 (B) compensation of law clerks with exper8 tise in technical matters arising in patent and 

9 plant variety protection cases, to be appointed 

10 by the courts designated under subsection (b) 

11 to assist those courts in such cases. 

12 (2) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Amounts made 

13 available pursuant to this subsection shall remain 

14 available until expended. 

Æ 


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