The House Rules Committee, which controls the flow of bills going to the House floor, will meet on Thursday, September 6, to establish the grounds rules for consideration of H.R. 1908 in the House.

The legislative week beginning July 16 arguably turned out to be the most active week in the formulation of patent law in the history of the United States. In a 32-hour period on July 18 and 19, both the House Judiciary Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee considered and voted on numerous amendments to their respective patent law reform bills, and favorably reported the legislation. Completion of committee action in both houses of Congress before the August month-long congressional recess keeps the legislation on the timetables set by its authors, and greatly enhances the prospects for enactment of the most far-reaching changes in patent law in a single bill since the enactment of the Patent Code in 1952.

On June 6, the Senate Judiciary Committee held its first hearing on S. 1145, the "Patent Reform Act of 2007." The House Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property held a hearing on an identical bill, H.R. 1908, on April 26, and reported the bill to the full Judiciary Committee, without amendment, on May 16.

On April 26, the House IP Subcommittee held its first, and perhaps its last, hearing on H.R. 1809, the "Patent Reform Act of 2007." An identical bill, S. 1145, has been introduced in the Senate.

The start of the hearing in the House Judiciary Committee was delayed briefly while the Committee scrambled to set up an overflow room for the crowd that lined the corridors and far-exceeded the capacity of the Committee’s main hearing room. Many if not most of those waiting in line were representatives of interest groups that have been occupying similar, less visible lines to lobby members of Congress and their staffs in the past few months as the bills were taking shape and being written.

Patent reform legislation has again been introduced in Congress and put on a fast track that its authors hope will lead to enactment before the end of the year. A hearing is scheduled for April 26 in the House Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property, and Subcommittee Chairman Howard Berman is targeting a Subcommittee vote on the bill before the Memorial Day recess.

On February 15, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to favorably report S 316, the "Preserve Access to Affordable Generics Act."

On February 15, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property held its first hearing of the 110th Congress under the new Democratic leadership. Subcommittee Chairman Howard Berman was joined by 10 other Subcommittee members and a standing room only crowd for a hearing entitled "American Innovation at Risk: The Case for Patent Reform." Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, a former member of the Subcommittee who was very active on the Subcommittee in the past two Congresses, also participated in the hearing by special leave of the Subcommittee.

On February 12 the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 34, a bill to establish a 10-year experimental program in at least 5 U.S. district courts for the trial of patent cases.

The President’s budget proposal for funding the federal government in Fiscal Year 2008 (October 1, 2007-September 30, 2008) was sent to Congress on February 5.

President Bush's recommendations for funding the federal government in Fiscal Year 2006 (10/01/05-9/31/06) were sent to Congress today. They include a recommendation of $1.7 billion to fund the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

On March 3, by a vote of 379-28, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 1561, the “United States Patent and Trademark Fee Modernization Act of 2003.” H.R. 1561 would increase PTO user fees by an average of about 15 percent in order to raise an additional $200 million per year that the Office believes to be needed to implement its 21st Century Strategic Plan. The Plan is designed to improve quality, reduce pendency, and speed transition to electronic processing.

In a major victory for the intellectual property community, President Bush on February 2 sent a budget recommendation to Congress that calls for no diversion of PTO user fee revenue in the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2004.