Proposed Amendment to HR 1561.
Date: February 10, 2004.
Re: Diversion of USPTO fees.
Submitted to the House Rules Committee by Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI).
Source: Office of Rep. Sensenbrenner.

AMENDMENT TO H.R. 1561, AS REPORTED
OFFERED BY M. _____

Strike section 5 and insert the following:

SEC. 5. PATENT AND TRADEMARK FUNDING.

Section 42(c) of title 35, United States Code, is amended—

(1) by striking ‘‘(c)’’ and inserting ‘‘(c)(1)’’;

(2) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:

‘‘(2) There is established in the Treasury a Patent and Trademark Fee Reserve Fund. If estimated fee collections by the Patent and Trademark Office for a fiscal year exceed the amount appropriated to the Office for that fiscal year, fees collected in excess of the appropriated amount shall be deposited in the Patent and Trademark Fee Reserve Fund. After the end of each fiscal year, the Director shall, if the Director determines that there are sufficient funds in the Reserve Fund, make payments from the Reserve Fund to persons who paid patent or trademark fees during that fiscal year. The Director shall by regulation determine which persons receive such payments and the amount of such payments, except that such payments in the aggregate shall equal the amount of funds deposited in the Reserve Fund during that fiscal year, less the cost of administering the provisions of this paragraph.’’.

In section 6(a), strike ‘‘Except as’’ and all that follows through the end of the sentence an insert ‘‘Except as otherwise provided in this Act and this section, this Act and the amendments made by this Act shall take effect on October 1, 2004.’’.

Page 19, line 6, strike ‘‘Subsection’’ and insert ‘‘(a) AMENDMENT.—Subsection’’.

Page 19, add the following after line 8:

(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by subsection (a) shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act.