Panel votes to let Patent office keep fees

In a move to cut down on a big backlog of applications, a House Judiciary subcommittee voted Thursday to earmark to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office all of the patent and trademark applicant fees it collects.

The Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property approved a measure (H.R. 2047) by voice vote to let the patent office retain its fees, some of which have been distributed for other government operations. The earmarking is designed to speed up processing of patent applications, which now take an average of nearly 27 months.

The subcommittee, which sent the bill to the full Judiciary Committee, estimated that some $207 million in additional user fees that would otherwise be diverted from some $1.3 billion in collections in fiscal 2002 could be used by the patent office. The patent office budget without an influx of diverted funds was estimated at about $1.1 billion, all financed from collected fees.

By voice vote, the subcommittee approved an amendment by Subcommittee Chairman Howard Coble, R-N.C., to authorize only $50 million from collected fees for fiscal 2002 so the patent office can develop an electronic system for filing and processing patent and trademark applications. The original bill, also sponsored by Coble, called for a two-year, $100 million authorization -- $50 million for fiscal 2002 and $50 million for fiscal 2003.

In addition, the legislation orders the director of the patent office, along with the Patent Public Advisory Committee and the Trademark Public Advisory Committee, to develop a five-year strategic plan to improve and streamline patent operations, including an effective electronic system the public can use for researching patent information.

Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., the senior Democrat on the subcommittee, said that some $900 million in funds will have been diverted by the end of 2002 over about a 12 year span, money that could have been used to cut down on the growing backlog of applications and improve patent operations.

"Meantime the backlog keeps growing and growing," he told reporters after the session.

During the short meeting, Coble said he believed the measure would prove to be "inoffensive to the appropriators."