The future competitive strength of the American economy depends upon the robustness of our high technology industries, and those industries in turn depend upon a strong patent system to both secure patent rights in new technologies and to ensure the issuance of only high-quality of patents that preclude the improper assertion of patent rights. Recognizing this, Congress approved the America Invents Act (AIA) to, among other things, ensure that the excess fees the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) collects are to be used by the USPTO to fund its new programs, improve existing programs and to ensure the continued provision of critical, time-sensitive services. The AIA highlights the fact that fees collected by the USPTO are different from regular discretionary government spending.
The decision to reduce funding for USPTO by almost $150 million due to sequestration will delay the opening of new satellite offices throughout the country and exacerbate the current backlog of patent applications. If the USPTO is unable to access the fees it collects, it will be unable to reduce this backlog which will diminish businesses’ ability to expedite new innovations into the marketplace and may also have a deleterious effect on the UPSTO’s efforts to improve patent quality, which could exacerbate the current patent troll problem – a problem that just a few weeks ago the Administration announced its plan to address.
The Commerce Department and the Office of Management and Budget should take immediate steps to allow the USPTO access to its fees and ensure the new regional offices open on schedule.
Keith Kupferschmid is General Counsel and SVP, Intellectual Property Policy & Enforcement at SIIA.