The Hill News

This fall the President and Congressional leaders are betting on innovation to spark job creation and economic growth in America.  Next week, they hope to contribute toward this goal with the passage of legislation intended to simplify, streamline, and modernize our patent laws. What is missing from this legislation is the provision to restore the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) with the funding it needs and rightfully collects, to perform timely reviews of applications that grant innovators the legal protection needed to create new products that stimulate the economy and add new jobs.

Innovators pay user fees to get their patent applications processed at the PTO. Currently, they face a three to five year delay in receiving their patent, in part because Congress has diverted more than $900 million in patent application fees, shifting those funds to pet programs and projects.  

Proposals to reverse this trend and restore the PTO with the full f! unding it collects from patent applications will be under assault in a time of massive federal budget cutbacks, risking further backlog of applications. 

Robbing the PTO to pay for pork hurts the American economy.

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