I
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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Patent and Trademark
Office Authorization Act of 2002’’.
SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF AMOUNTS AVAILABLE TO THE
PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE.
There are authorized to be appropriated to the
United States Patent and Trademark Office for salaries
and necessary expenses for fiscal year 2002 an amount
equal to the fees collected in fiscal year 2002 under title
35, United States Code, and the Trademark Act of 1946
(15 U.S.C. 1051 et seq.).
SEC. 3. ELECTRONIC FILING AND PROCESSING OF PATENT
AND TRADEMARK APPLICATIONS.
(a) ELECTRONIC FILING
AND PROCESSING.—The
Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property
and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark
Office (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Director’’) shall de-
velop an electronic system for the filing and processing
of patent and trademark applications, that—
(1) is user friendly; and
(2) includes the necessary infrastructure—
(A) to allow examiners and applicants to
send all communications electronically; and
(B) to allow the Office to process, main-
tain, and search electronically the contents and
history of each application.
(b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is
authorized to be appropriated to carry out subsection (a)
$50,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2002 and 2003.
Amounts made available pursuant to this subsection shall
remain available until expended.
SEC. 4. STRATEGIC PLAN.
(a) DEVELOPMENT OF PLAN.—The Director shall, in
close consultation with the Patent Public Advisory Com-
mittee and the Trademark Public Advisory Committee, de-
velop a strategic plan that sets forth the goals and meth-
ods by which the United States Patent and Trademark
Office will, during the 5-year period beginning on October
1, 2002—
(1) enhance patent and trademark quality;
(2) reduce patent and trademark pendency; and
(3) develop and implement an effective elec-
tronic system for use by the Patent and Trademark
Office and the public for all aspects of the patent
and trademark processes, including, in addition to
the elements set forth in section 3, searching, exam-
ining, communicating, publishing, and making pub-
licly available, patents and trademark registrations.
The strategic plan shall include milestones and objective
and meaningful criteria for evaluating the progress and
successful achievement of the plan. The Director shall con-
sult with the Public Advisory Committees with respect to
the development of each aspect of the strategic plan.
(b) REPORT
TO CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES.—
The Director shall, not later than January 15, 2002, sub-
mit the plan developed under subsection (a) to the Com-
mittees on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives
and the Senate.
SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.
This Act shall take effect on October 1, 2001.
Æ