House Passes Patent Office Bailout Bill
The House late Tuesday passed legislation under suspension of the rules that would authorize the Patent and Trademark Office to use money statutorily cordoned off for its trademark portfolio to pay for patent-related work. The PTO, which is funded through user fees and is faced with a lengthy patent application backlog, recently suspended overtime pay for patent examiners and earlier instituted a hiring freeze. PTO officials have said the loan is justified because the trademark budget has a massive surplus. House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers's bill and a companion measure sponsored by Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy are intended to stave off potential furloughs and reductions-in-force. Under the Conyers bill the PTO could use trademark funds made available for fiscal year 2009 of up to $70 million to support the processing of patents and related activities. The measure would also establish a surcharge to repay those funds. The PTO would have until June 30, 2010 to use the authority and the surcharge would take effect no later than Sept. 30, 2011 with all funds being repaid by Sept. 30, 2014. Worth noting: The Leahy bill doesn't assign a specific dollar amount.
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