144 
of providing the individual with an independent confirma-
tion of results obtained from another test provider’s prior 
performance of the test on the individual. 
(d) REPORT.—Not later than 9 months after the date 
of enactment of this Act, the Director shall report to the 
Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate and the Com-
mittee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives 
on the findings of the study and provide recommendations 
for establishing the availability of such independent con-
firming genetic diagnostic test activity. 
SEC. 28. PATENT OMBUDSMAN PROGRAM FOR SMALL BUSI-
NESS CONCERNS. 
Using available resources, the Director shall establish 
and maintain in the Office a Patent Ombudsman Pro-
gram. The duties of the Program’s staff shall include pro-
viding support and services relating to patent filings to 
small business concerns and independent inventors. 
SEC. 29. ESTABLISHMENT OF METHODS FOR STUDYING 
THE DIVERSITY OF APPLICANTS. 
The Director shall, not later than the end of the 6- 
month period beginning on the date of the enactment of 
this Act, establish methods for studying the diversity of 
patent applicants, including those applicants who are mi-
norities, women, or veterans. The Director shall not use
145 
the results of such study to provide any preferential treat-
ment to patent applicants. 
SEC. 30. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that the patent system 
should promote industries to continue to develop new tech-
nologies that spur growth and create jobs across the coun-
try which includes protecting the rights of small busi-
nesses and inventors from predatory behavior that could 
result in the cutting off of innovation. 
SEC. 31. USPTO STUDY ON INTERNATIONAL PATENT PRO-
TECTIONS FOR SMALL BUSINESSES. 
(a) STUDY REQUIRED.—The Director, in consulta-
tion with the Secretary of Commerce and the Adminis-
trator of the Small Business Administration, shall, using 
the existing resources of the Office, carry out a study— 
(1) to determine how the Office, in coordination 
with other Federal departments and agencies, can 
best help small businesses with international patent 
protection; and 
(2) whether, in order to help small businesses 
pay for the costs of filing, maintaining, and enforc-
ing international patent applications, there should be 
established either— 
(A) a revolving fund loan program to make 
loans to small businesses to defray the costs of
146 
such applications, maintenance, and enforce-
ment and related technical assistance; or 
(B) a grant program to defray the costs of 
such applications, maintenance, and enforce-
ment and related technical assistance. 
(b) REPORT.—Not later than 120 days after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, the Director shall issue a 
report to the Congress containing— 
(1) all findings and determinations made in car-
rying out the study required under subsection (a); 
(2) a statement of whether the determination 
was made that— 
(A) a revolving fund loan program de-
scribed under subsection (a)(2)(A) should be es-
tablished; 
(B) a grant program described under sub-
section (a)(2)(B) should be established; or 
(C) neither such program should be estab-
lished; and 
(3) any legislative recommendations the Direc-
tor may have developed in carrying out such study. 
SEC. 32. PRO BONO PROGRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall work with and 
support intellectual property law associations across the 
country in the establishment of pro bono programs de-
147 
signed to assist financially under-resourced independent 
inventors and small businesses. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall take effect 
on the date of the enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 33. LIMITATION ON ISSUANCE OF PATENTS. 
(a) LIMITATION.—Notwithstanding any other provi-
sion of law, no patent may issue on a claim directed to 
or encompassing a human organism. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (a) shall apply to 
any application for patent that is pending on, or 
filed on or after, the date of the enactment of this 
Act. 
(2) PRIOR APPLICATIONS.—Subsection (a) shall 
not affect the validity of any patent issued on an ap-
plication to which paragraph (1) does not apply. 
SEC. 34. STUDY OF PATENT LITIGATION. 
(a) GAO STUDY.—The Comptroller General of the 
United States shall conduct a study of the consequences 
of litigation by non-practicing entities, or by patent asser-
tion entities, related to patent claims made under title 35, 
United States Code, and regulations authorized by that 
title. 
(b) CONTENTS
OF STUDY.—The study conducted 
under this section shall include the following:
148 
(1) The annual volume of litigation described in 
subsection (a) over the 20-year period ending on the 
date of the enactment of this Act. 
(2) The volume of cases comprising such litiga-
tion that are found to be without merit after judicial 
review. 
(3) The impacts of such litigation on the time 
required to resolve patent claims. 
(4) The estimated costs, including the esti-
mated cost of defense, associated with such litigation 
for patent holders, patent licensors, patent licensees, 
and inventors, and for users of alternate or com-
peting innovations. 
(5) The economic impact of such litigation on 
the economy of the United States, including the im-
pact on inventors, job creation, employers, employ-
ees, and consumers. 
(6) The benefit to commerce, if any, supplied 
by non-practicing entities or patent assertion entities 
that prosecute such litigation. 
(c) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The Comptroller Gen-
eral shall, not later than the date that is 1 year after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, submit to the Com-
mittee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives 
and the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate a report
149 
on the results of the study required under this section, 
including recommendations for any changes to laws and 
regulations that will minimize any negative impact of pat-
ent litigation that was the subject of such study. 
SEC. 35. EFFECTIVE DATE. 
Except as otherwise provided in this Act, the provi-
sions of this Act shall take effect upon the expiration of 
the 1-year period beginning on the date of the enactment 
of this Act and shall apply to any patent issued on or after 
that effective date. 
SEC. 36. BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 
The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of 
complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, 
shall be determined by reference to the latest statement 
titled ‘‘Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation’’ for this 
Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record 
by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, pro-
vided that such statement has been submitted prior to the 
vote on passage. 
SEC. 37. CALCULATION OF 60-DAY PERIOD FOR APPLICA-
TION OF PATENT TERM EXTENSION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 156(d)(1) of title 35, 
United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 
following flush sentence:
150 
‘‘For purposes of determining the date on which a product 
receives permission under the second sentence of this 
paragraph, if such permission is transmitted after 4:30 
P.M., Eastern Time, on a business day, or is transmitted 
on a day that is not a business day, the product shall be 
deemed to receive such permission on the next business 
day. For purposes of the preceding sentence, the term 
‘business day’ means any Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, 
Thursday, or Friday, excluding any legal holiday under 
section 6103 of title 5.’’. 
(b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by sub-
section (a) shall apply to any application for extension of 
a patent term under section 156 of title 35, United States 
Code, that is pending on, that is filed after, or as to which 
a decision regarding the application is subject to judicial 
review on, the date of the enactment of this Act. 
Passed the House of Representatives June 23, 2011. 
Attest: 
Clerk.
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 1249 
AN ACT 
To amend title 35, United States Code, to provide 
for patent reform.