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of such functions, programs, and activities, subject to the
submission of a plan to the Committees on Appropriations
of the House and Senate in accordance with the proce-
dures set forth in section 605 of the Departments of Com-
merce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related
Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999, as contained in Public
Law 105–277.
SEC. 649. DEFINITIONS.
For purposes of this title—
(1) the term ‘‘function’’ includes any duty, obli-
gation, power, authority, responsibility, right, privi-
lege, activity, or program; and
(2) the term ‘‘office’’ includes any office, ad-
ministration, agency, bureau, institute, council, unit,
organizational entity, or component thereof.
TITLE VII—MISCELLANEOUS
PATENT PROVISIONS
SEC. 701. PROVISIONAL APPLICATIONS.
(a) ABANDONMENT.—Section 111(b)(5) of title 35,
United States Code, is amended to read as follows:
‘‘(5) ABANDONMENT.—Notwithstanding the ab-
sence of a claim, upon timely request and as pre-
scribed by the Commissioner, a provisional applica-
tion may be treated as an application filed under
subsection (a). Subject to section 119(e)(3) of this
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title, if no such request is made, the provisional ap-
plication shall be regarded as abandoned 12 months
after the filing date of such application and shall not
be subject to revival thereafter.’’.
(b) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT RELATING TO WEEK-
ENDS AND HOLIDAYS.—Section 119(e) of title 35, United
States code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing:
‘‘(3) If the day that is 12 months after the filing date
of a provisional application falls on a Saturday, Sunday,
or Federal holiday within the District of Columbia, the
period of pendency of the provisional application shall be
extended to the next succeeding secular or business day.’’.
(c) 
ELIMINATION
OF
COPENDENCY
REQUIRE-
MENT.—Section 119(e)(2) of title 35, United States Code,
is amended by striking ‘‘and the provisional application
was pending on the filing date of the application for patent
under section 111(a) or section 363 of this title’’.
(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by
this section shall take effect on the date of the enactment
of this Act and shall apply to any provisional application
filed on or after June 8, 1995, except that the amend-
ments made by subsections (b) and (c) shall have no effect
with respect to any patent which is the subject of litigation
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in an action commenced before such date of the enact-
ment.
SEC. 702. INTERNATIONAL APPLICATIONS.
Section 119 of title 35, United States Code, is
amended—
(1) in subsection (a)—
(A) by inserting ‘‘in a WTO member coun-
try or’’ after ‘‘patent for the same invention’’;
and
(B) by inserting ‘‘such WTO member
country or’’ after ‘‘first filed in’’;
(2) in subsection (c), by inserting ‘‘WTO mem-
ber country or’’ after ‘‘application in the same’’; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(f) Applications for plant breeder’s rights filed in
a WTO member country (or in a foreign UPOV Con-
tracting Party) shall have the same effect for the purpose
of the right of priority under subsections (a) through (c)
of this section as applications for patent, subject to the
same conditions and requirements of this section as apply
to applications for patents.
‘‘(g) As used in this section—
‘‘(1) the term ‘WTO member country’ has the
meaning given that term in section 2(10) of the
Uruguay Round Agreements Act; and
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‘‘(2) the term ‘UPOV Contracting Party’ means
a member of the International Convention for the
Protection of New Varieties of Plants.’’.
SEC. 703. CERTAIN LIMITATIONS ON DAMAGES FOR PAT-
ENT INFRINGEMENT NOT APPLICABLE.
Section 287(c)(4) of title 35, United States Code, is
amended by striking ‘‘before the date of enactment of this
subsection’’ and inserting ‘‘based on an application the
earliest effective filing date of which is prior to September
30, 1996’’.
SEC. 704. ELECTRONIC FILING AND PUBLICATIONS.
(a) PRINTING OF PAPERS FILED.—Section 22 of title
35, United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘printed
or typewritten’’ and inserting ‘‘printed, typewritten, or on
an electronic medium’’.
(b) PUBLICATIONS.—Section 11(a) of title 35, United
States Code, is amended by amending the matter pre-
ceding paragraph 1 to read as follows:
‘‘(a) The Director may publish in printed, type-
written, or electronic form, the following:’’.
(c) COPIES OF PATENTS FOR PUBLIC LIBRARIES.—
Section 13 of title 35, United States Code, is amended
by striking ‘‘The Commissioner may supply printed copies
of specifications and drawings of patents’’ and inserting
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‘‘The Director may supply copies of specifications and
drawings of patents in printed or electronic form’’.
(d) 
MAINTENANCE
OF
COLLECTIONS.—Section
41(i)(1) of title 35, United States Code, is amended by
striking ‘‘The Commissioner shall maintain, for use by the
public, paper or microform’’ and inserting ‘‘The Director
shall maintain, for use by the public, paper, microform,
or electronic’’.
SEC. 705. STUDY AND REPORT ON BIOLOGICAL DEPOSITS
IN SUPPORT OF BIOTECHNOLOGY PATENTS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—No later than 6 months after the
date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General
of the United States, in consultation with the Director of
the United States Patent and Trademark Office, shall
conduct a study and submit a report to the Congress on
the potential risks to the United States biotechnology in-
dustry relating to biological deposits in support of bio-
technology patents.
(b) CONTENTS.—The study conducted under this sec-
tion shall include—
(1) an examination of the risk of export and the
risk of transfers to third parties of biological depos-
its, and the risks posed by the change to 18-month
publication requirements made by this Act;
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(2) an analysis of comparative legal and regu-
latory regimes; and
(3) any related recommendations.
(c) CONSIDERATION OF REPORT.—In drafting regu-
lations affecting biological deposits (including any modi-
fication of title 37, Code of Federal Regulations, section
1.801 et seq.), the Patent and Trademark Office shall con-
sider the recommendations of the study conducted under
this section.
SEC. 706. PRIOR INVENTION.
Section 102(g) of title 35, United States Code, is
amended to read as follows:
‘‘(g)(1) during the course of an interference con-
ducted under section 135 or section 291, another inventor
involved therein establishes, to the extent permitted in sec-
tion 104, that before such person’s invention thereof the
invention was made by such other inventor and not aban-
doned, suppressed, or concealed, or (2) before such per-
son’s invention thereof, the invention was made in this
country by another inventor who had not abandoned, sup-
pressed, or concealed it. In determining priority of inven-
tion under this subsection, there shall be considered not
only the respective dates of conception and reduction to
practice of the invention, but also the reasonable diligence