WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) today introduced legislation that will extend the USPTO’s fee setting authority, established by the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act of 2011.  In exchange for this financial autonomy that facilitates long-term planning and investment, the bill would hold the USPTO accountable for making it a priority to complete the transition to modern IT systems as well as planning for future incorporation of emerging technologies in the examination process, where appropriate.  

IT systems are critical for the USPTO’s mission to issue patents and trademarks, but some of their systems are badly outdated and the modernization process presents significant challenges.  This makes it even more important that the USPTO be forward-thinking in adopting next-generation IT technologies, as the bill encourages through its reporting requirements. To this end, the Building Innovation Growth through Data for Intellectual Property Act of 2018 will call for the USPTO to set forth a plan on how it will use advanced data science to improve consistency of examination, detect common sources of error, and improve productivity.  

A one-pager of the bill is available here.

The bill text is available here.  

“I am pleased to introduce this bipartisan bill with Senator Hatch that extends the USPTO’s authority to set its own fees while calling upon the agency to report on its IT modernization efforts and how it will incorporate emerging new technologies into the examination process,” said Senator Coons.  “By all accounts, the USPTO has responsibly exercised its authority to set the prices for its services, so it makes sense to continue to allow the USPTO to do so.  At the same time, the public needs to be assured that the USPTO is not just completing updates of its IT systems, but actively exploring the use of cutting-edge technologies like machine learning and big data to ensure that the examination process keeps up with state of the art.” 

“In order to best serve the public and protect American innovation, USPTO needs efficient, up-to-date data analytics and information systems,” said Senator Hatch. “The agency’s mission includes surveying vast amounts of data and tracking millions of submissions. The BIG Data for IP will help keep USPTO at the forefront of information technology and ensure it’s able to do its job efficiently and effectively moving forward.”

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