Industry groups lauded the introduction of the Innovation...
Industry groups lauded the introduction of the Innovation Protection Act (HR-3349), which would change the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s funding structure. The bill, introduced by House Judiciary Committee ranking member John Conyers, D-Mich., would create a revolving PTO fund…
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that the agency could spend even when the government shuts down or makes cuts through sequestration. PTO is already fully funded through fees but still must go through the appropriations process, making it vulnerable to fee diversion. House Intellectual Property Subcommittee ranking member Mel Watt, D-N.C., and Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., are original co-sponsors of the bill. House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., became a co-sponsor Tuesday. American Intellectual Property Law Association Executive Director Todd Dickinson said in a Tuesday statement he hoped that HR-3349 will “provide the USPTO with the ability to do the work its customers pay for by ending the possibility of fee diversion, once and for all.” The America Invents Act was meant to solve the PTO funding problem, but “it obviously hasn’t,” he said. Tim Molino, BSA/The Software Alliance director of government relations, said that “ensuring [PTO] has a steady stream of self-generated revenue will allow it” to effective implement AIA.