205
HR 400 RS
SEC. 505. REPORT TO CONGRESS.
Not later than 5 years after the effective date of this
title, the Director shall submit to the Congress a report eval-
uating whether the reexamination proceedings established
under the amendments made by this title are inequitable
to any of the parties in interest and, if so, the report shall
contain recommendations for changes to the amendments
made by this title to remove such inequity.
SEC. 506. EFFECTIVE DATE.
This title and the amendments made by this title shall
take effect on the date that is 1 year after the date of the
enactment of this Act and shall apply to all reexamination
requests filed on or after such date.
TITLE VI—MISCELLANEOUS
PATENT PROVISIONS
SEC. 601. 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 1993(c)(3) of this
title, if no such request is made, the provisional ap-
plication shall be regarded as abandoned 12 months
206
HR 400 RS
after the filing date of such application and shall not
be subject to revival thereafter.’’.
(b) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT RELATING TO WEEKENDS
AND HOLIDAYS.—Section 119(e) of title 35, United States
Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(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 Co-
lumbia, the period of pendency of the provisional ap-
plication shall be extended to the next succeeding sec-
ular or business day.’’.
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by sub-
section (a) apply to a provisional application filed on or
after June 8, 1995.
SEC. 602. INTERNATIONAL APPLICATIONS.
Section 119 of title 35, United States Code, is amended
as follows:
(1) In subsection (a), insert ‘‘or in a WTO mem-
ber country’’ after ‘‘or to citizens of the United
States,’’.
(2) At the end of section 119 add the following
new subsections:
‘‘(f) Applications for plant breeder’s rights filed in a
WTO member country (or in a foreign UPOV Contracting
Party) shall have the same effect for the purpose of the right
207
HR 400 RS
of priority under subsections (a) through (c) of this section
as applications for patents, 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
same meaning as the term is defined in section
104(b)(2) of this title; and
‘‘(2) the term ‘UPOV Contracting Party’ means
a member of the International Convention for the
Protection of New Varieties of Plants.’’.
SEC. 603. ACCESS TO ELECTRONIC PATENT INFORMATION.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The United States Patent and
Trademark Organization shall develop and implement
statewide computer networks with remote library sites in
requesting rural States such that citizens in those States
will have enhanced access to information in their State’s
patent and trademark depository library.
(b) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘rural
States’’ means the States that qualified on January 1, 1997,
as rural States under section 1501(b) of the Omnibus Crime
Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 379bb(b)).
208
HR 400 RS
SEC. 604. CERTAIN LIMITATIONS ON DAMAGES FOR PATENT
INFRINGEMENT NOT APPLICABLE.
Section 287(c) of title 35, United States Code, is
amended in paragraph (4) 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. 605. PLANT PATENTS.
(a) TUBER PROPAGATED PLANTS.—Section 161 of
title 35, United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘a
tuber propagated plant or’’.
(b) RIGHTS IN PLANT PATENTS.—The text of section
163 of title 35, United States Code, is amended to read as
follows: ‘‘In the case of a plant patent, the grant to the pat-
entee, such patentee’s heirs or assigns, shall have the right
to exclude others from asexually reproducing the plant, and
from using, offering for sale, or selling the plant so repro-
duced, or any of its parts, throughout the United States,
or from importing the plant so reproduced, or any parts
thereof, into the United States.’’.
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments by subsection
(a) shall apply on the date of enactment of this Act. The
amendments made by subsection (b) shall apply to any
plant patent issued on or after the date of enactment of
this Act.
209
HR 400 RS
SEC. 606. ELECTRONIC FILING.
Section 22 of title 35, United States Code, is amended
by striking ‘‘printed or typewritten’’ and inserting ‘‘print-
ed, typewritten, or on an electronic medium’’.
SEC. 607. STUDY AND REPORT ON BIOLOGICAL DEPOSITS
IN SUPPORT OF BIOTECHNOLOGY PATENTS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—No later than 6 months after the
date of enactment of this Act, the General Accounting Office,
in consultation with the United States Patent Office, shall
conduct a study and submit a report to Congress on the
potential risks to the United States biotechnology industry
relating to biological deposits in support of biotechnology
patents.
(b) CONTENTS.—The study conducted under this sec-
tion shall include—
(1) an examination of the risk of export and the
risk of third-party transfer of biological deposits, and
the risks posed by the change to 18-month publication
requirements;
(2) an analysis of comparative legal and regu-
latory regimes; and
(3) any related recommendations.
(c) CONSIDERATION OF REPORT.—In drafting regula-
tions affecting biological deposits (including any modifica-
tion of 37 Code of Federal Regulations 1.801 et seq.), the
210
HR 400 RS
United States Patent Office shall consider the recommenda-
tions of the study conducted under this section.
Passed the House of Representatives April 24, 1997.
Attest:
ROBIN H. CARLE,
Clerk.