PATENT QUALITY IMPROVEMENT HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON COURTS, THE INTERNET, OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION JULY 24, 2003 Serial No. 38 Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.house.gov/judiciary 88-545 PDF U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office The Honorable Lamar Smith, a Representative in Congress From the State of Texas, and Chairman, Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intel- The Honorable Howard L. Berman, a Representative in Congress From the State of California, and Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Courts, the Mr. Charles E. Van Horn, Partner, Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, on behalf of the American Intellectual Property Law Association Mr. Mark Kesslen, Managing Director and Associate General Counsel, J.P. Morgan Chase & Company, on behalf of the Financial Services Roundtable PATENT QUALITY IMPROVEMENT THURSDAY, JULY 24, 2003 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON COURTS, THE INTERNET, The Subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at inter a.m., in Room 2141, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Lamar Smith (Chair of the Subcommittee) presiding. Mr. SMITH. The Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property will come to order. Good morning to you all. It is probably earlier to us than it is to you all. We were voting until 2 o'clock last night. So I mention that, so you will understand why our attendance is not at its usual number, and maybe we will have some Members who will be joining us a little bit later on. In any case, the Subcommittee today is holding a hearing on patent quality improvement, and I will recognize myself and Mr. Berman for opening statements. Then we will proceed and hear from our witnesses. As part of last year's authorization of the Patent and Trademark Office, Congress instructed the PTO to develop a 5-year strategic business plan aimed at enhancing patent and trademark quality while reducing patent and trademark pendency. In response to this mandate, the PTO developed a strategic plan that was later revised based on constructive comments offered by this Subcommittee and the user community. In its revised plan, the agency has addressed these issues and identified goals and initiatives, largely supported by the major trade associations that represent patent and trademark filers. The Subcommittee reviewed the initial phase of the plan, a new fee schedule that would generate an additional $201 million in revenue for the PTO in fiscal year 2004 at an April hearing. Legislation incorporating the new fee schedule was the subject of Subcommittee and full Subcommittee markups earlier this year. However, an infusion of additional revenue is not an exclusive cure for what ails the PTO. Other administrative, operational and policy reforms, such as those set forth in the revised plan, must be implemented over the years if the agency is to become more productive and efficient. Beyond those changes that the Director may attempt to implement pursuant to his current statutory and administrative authority, there are other policy initiatives that he, the inventor community, (1) |