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Debate:Amendment US Patent Support Act, Until December 3rd

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BTroutman

Posted: Nov 30 2004, 11:10 AM

We dont Fobes or Martin or Troutman

Group: Members
Posts: 1204
Member No.: 190
Joined: 1-September 04

QUOTE

Mr. Laverone, of California, Mr. Schmidt, Ms. Wood, Mr. Mers, Mr. Heortman, Mr. Jordan, Mr. Cloe, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Mondragon, Mr. Garwood, Mr. keiffer, and Mr. Forsyth submit to the House Committee on Appropriations

A BILL

To provide funding to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for the purpose of speeding up the processing of pending patents.

Be it encated by the President of the United States and both houses of Congress assembled.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE

THis bill may be referred to as the "US Patent Support Act"

SECTION 2. FINDINGS

The Congress finds that,

1. The economy of the United States of America is primarily driven by the development of new products

2. Patents issued by the United States provide a necessary protection for intellectual property, and help encourage research and development.

3. The United States Patent and Trademark Office has more than five-hundred-thousand (500,000) patent applications awaiting processing, and that this number is expected to continue growing.

4. The United States Patent and Trademark Office expects the wait period for patent approval to extend to as much as five (5) years.

5. This problem can be traced to bugetary deficentcies and a lack of clerks to process the applications.

6. As much as $650 million collected in User Fees paid by patent applicants is used to fund programs unrelated to the USPTO in any way, shape, or form.

SECTION 3. DEFINITONS

1. USER FEE is defined as a surcharge payed by patent applicants to the USPTO upon filing of a new patent.

SECTION 4. USE OF USER FEES BY THE GOVERNMENT

The sum of $200,000,000 shall be appropriated to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, of which:

$100,000,000 shall be used to hire additional personnel and purchase additional equipment to process the backlog of applications, so that the average wait time for an application to be processed is reduced by 50% in the next five years;

$85,000,000 shall be used to expedite the USPTO's transition from a purely paper-based operation to a primarily electronic, paperless one;

$15,000,000 shall be used to conduct a comprehensive efficiency review of USPTO practices and procedures.
Upon enactment, the USPTO shall submit to the Congress an annual report containing reccomendations for the size of the fees to be payed by patent applicants. Thses reccomendations shall go into effect upon approval of Congress.

SECTION 5. ENACTMENT

This bill, upon approval by the President of the United States and both houses of the Congress of the United States, shall go into effect March 1, 2005.

* (Includes Ameneded Parts )

Brian Murphy	Posted: Nov 30 2004, 01:43 PM
Another corrupt Louisiana politician. Group: Members Posts: 645 Member No.: 193 Joined: 2-September 04	Mr. Speaker, In this time of rising deficits, I must ask my colleagues not to support this legislation. The reckless spending practices of the United States over the last evereal years must be curbed. I yield

tompea	Posted: Nov 30 2004, 04:06 PM
Safe Incumbent Group: Members Posts: 1404 Member No.: 317 Joined: 28-October 04	Mr Speaker, I concur with the words of my colleague from Louisiana. I voted against the amendment, but it narrowly passed. The original bill had good intentions, and it was my understanding that the financial mechanisms as originally written would have redirected large sums of money specifically to the patent process. I therefore found the amendment a bit surprising. I personally now face the dilemma of a good idea which I believe to be overfinanced. The amendment took the second step before the first step was even tried. I shall listen to my colleagues in the rest of this debate and weigh their esteemed arguments. I yield

SuperGenius

Posted: Nov 30 2004, 04:51 PM

Unregistered

Mr. Speaker,

I propose the following amendment:

Strike Section 4.

Replace with, as new Section 4:

QUOTE

The User Fees charged by the United States Patent and Trademark Office shall be used soley for the purposes of paying off expenses incurred by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Upon enactment of this bill, the federal government is expressly prohibited from using revenue derived from said User Fees to pay expenses incurred by programs not related to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Upon enactment, the USPTO shall submit to the Congress an annual report containing reccomendations for the size of the fees to be payed by patent applicants. These reccomendations shall go into effect upon approval of Congress.

This post has been edited by SuperGenius on Nov 30 2004, 04:52 PM

bcarlson33	Posted: Nov 30 2004, 08:39 PM
Squeaky clean like a rubber duckie Group: Admin Posts: 7841 Member No.: 1 Joined: 18-August 04	Point of Order, Mr. Speaker- the gentleman's amendment is out of order. Article V, Section B of AGS Rules of Order prohibits motions that simply reverse the question which the assembly has just decided.

SuperGenius	Posted: Nov 30 2004, 08:47 PM
Unregistered	Mr. Speaker, If the gentleman took a look, my amendment doesn't reverse the question which the assembly just decided, as it is different than the original wording.

SuperGenius

Posted: Nov 30 2004, 08:49 PM

Unregistered

Mr. Speaker,

I withdraw my previous amendment, and offer the following amendment, changes in bold

QUOTE

The sum of $1,000,000 shall be appropriated to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, of which:

$100,000 shall be used to hire additional personnel and purchase additional equipment to process the backlog of applications, so that the average wait time for an application to be processed is reduced by 50% in the next five years;

$850,000 shall be used to expedite the USPTO's transition from a purely paper-based operation to a primarily electronic, paperless one;

$150,000 shall be used to conduct a comprehensive efficiency review of USPTO practices and procedures.
Upon enactment, the USPTO shall submit to the Congress an annual report containing reccomendations for the size of the fees to be payed by patent applicants. Thses reccomendations shall go into effect upon approval of Congress.

This post has been edited by SuperGenius on Nov 30 2004, 08:49 PM

XianLewis	Posted: Nov 30 2004, 09:15 PM
Titleholder Group: Members Posts: 101 Member No.: 377 Joined: 24-November 04	co-sponsor

Dick Dexter	Posted: Nov 30 2004, 09:16 PM
Si vous extrayez svp cette spatule � partir de votre �ne. Group: Members Posts: 393 Member No.: 298 Joined: 15-October 04	Mr. Speaker, I rise in order to second the amendment put forth by the Distinguished Gentleman from Tennessee. I yield.

weekendwarrior	Posted: Dec 8 2004, 06:02 PM
Speaker (The Legalist) Group: Members Posts: 1475 Member No.: 147 Joined: 21-August 04	... This post has been edited by weekendwarrior on Dec 8 2004, 06:03 PM

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