Fwd: POPA Press Release on USPTO Fee Modernization Act (H.R. 1561)

-----Original Message-----
From: "Zimmermann, Roy" <[email protected]>
Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2004 14:08:03 -0600
Subject: POPA Press Release on USPTO Fee Modernization Act (H.R. 1561)


Here's the initial paragraphs from a press release of likely interest
to PIUG-L readers.

Press Release Source: Patent Office Professional Association 

Patent Fee Bill Will Harm Small Business without Conyers-Kaptur
Amendment, Patent Professional Association Says
Monday February 23, 2:19 pm ET 


ARLINGTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 23, 2004--Many small businesses
will be irreparably harmed if Congress adopts the pending U.S. Patent
and Trademark Office Fee Modernization Act (H.R. 1561). This bill
establishes a new search fee and gives the USPTO the unlimited ability
to raise those search fees without congressional approval, according to
the Patent Office Professional Association (POPA), an organization
representing USPTO patent examiners. A floor vote is expected in the
House of Representatives within the next two weeks. 
Under H.R. 1561, small business patent filing fees would double, from
about $375 to $750. "And that's the administration's low-ball cost,"
said POPA President Ronald Stern. "Why establish a separate search fee
and make it easy to raise? Because the administration wants to
outsource the search, which will inefficiently duplicate efforts and
jack up costs way beyond the means of many small businesses." 

The USPTO has estimated that by 2008 the agency would spend
approximately $376 million on outsourcing searches. This is over $800
per application - more than the current basic filing fee. Small
businesses would get no discount on these charges under H.R. 1561, even
though small entities have been entitled to a 50 percent reduction in
filing fees for the past 20 years. 

A proposed amendment to the bill from Reps. John Conyers (D-Mich.) and
Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) would retain the small business fee discount and
keep the bill's provisions for eliminating fee diversion. It would also
maintain the requirement for congressional approval to raise fees and
would strike the separation of search and examination. 


Outsourcing of searching by the PTO has been a discussion topic several
times on PIUG-L, so the impending discussion and vote on HR1561 is
noteworthy, as if further discussion of likely costs of outsourced
searching compared to current patent examiners searching.   The full
press release can be accessed at:  
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/040223/236028_1.html
 


Roy Zimmermann
Principal Patent Information Specialist
763-505-2527    763-505-2530 (Fax)
[email protected]