House Judiciary Committee recommends passage of anti-fee diversion bill; Debate on PTO funding and diversion to come?

Last week, the House Judiciary Committee released its report on the Patent and Trademark Fee Modernization Act of 2005 (H.R. 2791) (PTFMA). The Committee reports that it has considered the bill and that it recommends its passage without amendment.

You can view and/or download a copy of the report here.

The PTFMA was introduced on the same day as the Patent Act of 2005 (H.R. 2795) and is one of two completely different strategies to ending PTO fee diversion that are currently pending in Congress. The PTFMA includes the controversial anti-fee diversion provisions that were excised from the major PTO fee bill from the 108th Congress, H.R. 1561, on the eve of its passage by way of absorption into the omnibus appropriations bill. Just like H.R. 1561, the PTFMA sets up a refund system to avoid fee diversion while the other strategy - embodied in the COMPETE Act (S. 1020), which currently sits idle in the Senate Committee on Finance - avoids fee diversion using a fee reduction system.

With the release of the report from the House Judiciary Committee, the PTFMA continues to enjoy an early lead, likely because H.R. 1561 enjoyed such broad support amongst PTO stakeholders.

A debate on PTO funding - and fee diversion - may be held soon if the PTFMA makes it onto the floor calendar.

You can view the PTP archives relating to the PTFMA here.

You can view the PTP archives relating to the COMPETE Act here.