Patent & Trademark Office
FY 99 Budget Hearing

(March 11, 1998)  The House Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and State held hearings today which included testimony from Patent and Trademark Office Commissioner Bruce Lehman on the Fiscal Year 1999 budget.

"By providing patent rights, the PTO is one of the early, crucial steps to America's prominence in the areas of innovation and technology.  We are seeing some of our most dynamic growth in the more complex areas of technology, such as communications, computer software and semiconductors.  Registering trademarks and disseminating information in patents and trademarks enable American businesses to bring their ideas to market, thereby creating employment opportunities, adding to our economic base, and protecting our intellectual property resources," said Lehman in a statement prepared for this hearing.

The operations of the PTO are projected at $785.5 million for FY 1999, an increase of $94.5 million over FY 1998.  All operations of the PTO are funded in fees charged by the PTO in connection with patent and trademark applications and other services.  The PTO expects to generate a surplus of $116 million.

Many intellectual property owners and Members of Congress oppose the transfer user fees to other government programs.  HR 400 would end this hidden tax.

Forthcoming changes to PTO services include the following:

• Reduce processing time for patent original inventions.
• Deploy electronic processing of patent applications in 2003.
• Reduce trademark processing time to 3 months to first action, and commence accepting applications over the internet, in 1999.
• Enable applicants to request online the status of their patent and trademark applications.