House Appropriations Committee approves Patent and Trademark Office funding level pegged at estimated fee collections

Yesterday, the House Appropriations Committee held a markup hearing on the Commerce-Justice-State (CJS) appropriations bill for fiscal year 2007. The Committee approved an appropriation for the Patent and Trademark Office of $1.77 billion. This is slightly more than the funding level for fiscal year 2006 and slightly less than the amount requested by the President. Importantly, the Committee set the appropriation at an amount equal to the Office’s estimated fee collections for 2007, signalling a desire to keep all patent and trademark fees under the control of the Office.

So far, so good. Committee markup of the CJS appropriations bill is just the beginning, though. The bill must wind its way through the entire legislative process. Changes to funding levels and other amendments can be made at various points along the way.