December 5, 2008
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House

H.R. 375, Department of Commerce Elimination Act
Sponsor: Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif.
Introduced: Jan. 31, 2001
Committees: House Energy and Commerce, Transportation and Infrastructure, Financial Services, International Relations, Armed Services, Ways and Means, Government Reform, Judiciary, Science, Resources
Description: H.R. 375 would dismantle the Department of Commerce and, among other things, transfer the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) to the Justice Department. The PTO has come under increasing scrutiny from several lawmakers in part because new technologies continue to be at the center of patent litigation.
H.R. 614, Copyright Technical Corrections Act
Sponsor: Rep. Howard Coble, R-N.C.
Introduced: Feb. 14, 2001
Committee: House Judiciary
Description: H.R. 614 would make technical corrections to current copyright law. Bill sponsor Howard Coble, R-N.C., introduced a related measure, H.R. 615, that would make technical corrections to current patent and trademark law. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., introduced a related bill, S. 320, and used their floor time for debating that bill to defend Napster in the wake of a Feb. 12 federal court decision that threatened the popular music-swapping company. The Hatch-Leahy bill addresses copyright, patent and trademark law.
H.R. 615, Intellectual Property Technical Amendments Act
Sponsor: Rep. Howard Coble, R-N.C.
Introduced: Feb. 14, 2001
Committee: House Judiciary
Description: H.R. 615 would make technical corrections to current patent and trademark law. Bill sponsor Howard Coble, R-N.C., introduced a related measure, H.R. 614, that would make technical corrections to current copyright law. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., introduced a related bill, S. 320, and used their floor time for debating that bill to defend Napster in the wake of a Feb. 12 federal court decision that threatened the popular music-swapping company. The Hatch-Leahy bill addresses copyright, patent and trademark law.
H.R. 740, Patent and Trademark Office Reauthorization Act
Sponsor: Rep. Howard Coble, R-N.C.
Introduced: Feb. 27, 2001
Committee: House Judiciary
Description: H.R. 740 would reauthorize the Patent and Trademark Office and also require that all the user fees the agency collects be reserved for PTO use. Currently, the money from PTO user fees can be diverted to other programs.
H.R. 741, Madrid Protocol Implementation Act
Sponsor: Rep. Howard Coble, R-N.C.
Introduced: Feb. 27, 2001
Committee: House Judiciary
Final Action: Passed by the House
Description: H.R. 741 would amend federal trademark law in order to implement the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks. The bill is designed to streamline the process for registering trademarks abroad by allowing U.S. businesses to apply just once to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). The House Judiciary Committee approved the measure by voice vote March 8. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., introduced a companion bill, S. 407.
H.R. 1332, Business Method Patent Improvement Act
Sponsor: Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif.
Introduced: April 3, 2001
Committee: House Judiciary
Description: H.R. 1332 would require the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) to publish all business-method patent applications after 18 months to give the public a chance to present information about prior inventions. The bill also seeks to establish a timelier, cost-effective process for opposing business-method patents. Critics of the patent process have said the PTO too often grants such patents for "inventions" that are not truly unique or new. The bill is one of two designed to curtail the number of patents awarded for inventions that merely put existing business methods into computerized or digital form. The other measure is H.R. 1333.
H.R. 1333, Patent Improvement Act
Sponsor: Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif.
Introduced: April 3, 2001
Committee: House Judiciary
Description: H.R. 1333 would mandate that a panel of 18 legal and science experts be created to hold opposition hearings to patent applications. Critics of the patent process have said the PTO too often grants such patents for "inventions" that are not truly unique or new. The bill is one of two designed to curtail the number of patents awarded for inventions that merely put existing business methods into computerized or digital form. The other measure is H.R. 1332.
H.R. 1418, Entrepreneurial Incubators Development Act
Sponsor: Rep. Jack Quinn, R-N.Y.
Introduced: April 4, 2001
Committee: House Financial Services
Description: H.R. 1418 would help entrepreneurs who cannot afford lawyers and consultants with legal complexities such as understanding intellectual property rules and patents, and preparing corporate charters, partnership agreements, contracts and basic marketing strategies. The bill was one of five introduced the same day by a bloc of New York House members who hope the measures will spur job growth in upstate New York. The other measures were H.R. 1415, H.R. 1416, H.R. 1417 and H.R. 1419. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., introduced a companion package of bills: S. 426, S. 428, S. 429, S. 430, S. 431 and S. 432.
H.R. 2047, Patent and Trademark Office Authorization Act
Sponsor: Rep. Howard Coble, R-N.C.
Introduced: June 5, 2001
Committee: House Judiciary
Description: H.R. 2047 would reauthorize the Patent and Trademark Office in fiscal 2002 and also enable the PTO to keep all the revenue it collects from patent fees. The Bush administration's fiscal 2002 budget would continue the recent practice of diverting PTO fees toward unrelated federal programs. The budget calls for diverting $207 million in fees, but the bill would bar appropriators from taking any patent fees from the agency in fiscal 2002. The legislation also would require PTO to develop an electronic filing system for patent and trademark applications and to develop a long-term, strategic plan for improving the patent process. Two related measures, H.R. 740 and H. Res. 110, were introduced.
H.R. 2100, Twenty-First Century Distance Learning Enhancement Act
Sponsor: Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va.
Introduced: June 7, 2001
Committee: House Judiciary
Description: H.R. 2100 would permit educational institutions to post copyrighted materials on the Internet without additional payments so long as they are engaged in long-distance instruction. The bill also would permit the distance-learning exemption to apply to libraries, and it would exclude language from a related measure, S. 487, that would call on the Patent and Trademark Office to study technologies that block access to copyrighted materials.
H.R. 2231, Patent Reexamination Enhancement Act
Sponsor: Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif.
Introduced: June 19, 2001
Committee: House Judiciary
Description: H.R. 2231 is designed to permit the introduction of more evidence within reexamination proceedings at the Patent and Trademark Office. The bill would allow "business method" patents, such as those granted to Amazon.com for "one-click-shopping" and to Priceline.com for reverse auctions, to be included in reexaminations. Currently, only previously published material can be presented in the reexamination process, which bill sponsor Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., called "extremely flawed."
H.R. 2415
Sponsor: Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif.
Introduced: June 28, 2000
Committee: House Judiciary
Description: H.R. 2415 would require the director of the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) to adjust fees charged by the office so they equal, "to the greatest extent practicable," the amount appropriated to PTO for that fiscal year.
H.R. 2724, Music Online Competition Act
Sponsor: Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah
Introduced: Aug. 2, 2001
Committee: House Judiciary
Description: H.R. 2724 would alter copyright law in an effort to spur greater competition in the marketplace for digital music. The bill would require recording companies that license digital music to one Internet company to make it available to others on non-discriminatory prices and terms. It also would streamline the process for obtaining the right to the musical compositions underlying digital music and create a "safe harbor" that would protect webcasters from ruinous copyright-infringement lawsuits.
H.R. 2730, National Consumer Privacy Act
Sponsor: Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas
Introduced: Aug. 2, 2001
Committee: House Financial Services
Description: H.R. 2730 would amend the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act to prevent the states from imposing their own financial privacy laws. Under the privacy-related language of the federal banking-reform law, financial institutions and insurers must notify customers of company privacy policies and give them the chance to "opt out" of having their personal information shared with third parties. The law does not, however, prohibit the states from passing tougher laws, and some, including California, already have tried to do so. H.R. 2730 would prevent a "patchwork" of state laws. It also would make permanent the consumer protections of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. A related bill, H.R. 2720, was introduced the same day, and other measures on the issue, S. 30 and S. 450, also have been introduced in the Senate.
H.R. 3204, Intellectual Property Protection Restoration Act
Sponsor: Rep. Howard Coble, R-N.C.
Introduced: Nov. 1, 2001
Committee: House Judiciary
Description: H.R. 3204 would allow people to sue states for violating intellectual property rights. Backers of the bill and the Senate companion measure, S. 1611, said a Supreme Court ruling made the legislation necessary.
H.R. 5057, Intellectual Property Protection Act
Sponsor: Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas
Introduced: June 27, 2002
Committee: House Judiciary
Description: H.R. 5057 would extend criminal penalties to the counterfeiting or trading of "certificates of authentication," the labels that software manufacturers frequently attach to their packages. Unlike those situations where consumers willingly purchase pirated goods, false certificates of authentication allow pirates to identify products as legitimate and sell them at prices much closer to that of the genuine article. A Senate companion bill, S. 2395, also was introduced.
H.R. 5211, Untitled
Sponsor: Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif.
Introduced: July 25, 2002
Committee: House Judiciary
Description: H.R. 5211 would exempt copyright holders from anti-hacking laws when they use technologies designed to halt the illegal distribution of their copyrighted works on peer-to-peer (P2P) computer networks. The bill would limit copyright holders' criminal and civil liability when they disable, block or interfere with the distribution of recordings, movies and digital books that are transmitted on P2P systems. Current anti-hacking laws would not be changed, but copyright holders would be provided with a "safe harbor" to protect themselves from infringement, provided their actions do not cause more than $50 damage to a P2P user's computer.
H.R. 5285, Internet Radio Freedom Act
Sponsor: Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash.
Introduced: July 26, 2002
Committee: House Judiciary
Description: H.R. 5285 would amend the recent webcasting royalty rate set by the Librarian of Congress. The bill seeks to make the Copyright Office's quasi-judicial process for setting royalty rates fairer to small firms that stream digital music over the Internet. Currently, a Copyright Royalty Arbitration Panel (CARP) meets once every two years to set royalties. The legislation would exempt firms that earn $6 million or less from the recent royalty decision and calculate their rates under a standard that would be less costly. The bill also would require that future CARP proceedings adopt that "traditional" standard under 1976 copyright law rather than the "willing buyer/willing seller" standard used in the recent decision.
H.R. 5469, Untitled
Sponsor: Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis.
Introduced: Sept. 26, 2002
Committee: House Judiciary, Science
Final Action: Signed into law (PL 107-321)
Description: H.R. 5469 would extend by six months the starting date for royalty payments to stream music over the Internet. The measure, H.R. 5469, would delay the royalty requirement until April 20, 2003. Currently, webcasters must pay back royalties by Oct. 20 and begin to pay future royalties starting on that date. Under rates set by the Library of Congress, webcasters must pay 0.07 cents per song, per listener.
H.R. 5522, Digital Choice and Freedom Act
Sponsor: Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif.
Introduced: Oct. 2, 2002
Committee: House Judiciary
Description: H.R. 5522 would give consumers the ability to make personal copies of digital music, movies and books despite technologies that copyright holders deploy to protect digital rights. The bill is an attempt to rectify concerns about the consumer impact of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, specifically provisions that do not protect consumers' "fair use" rights to circumvent copy-protection technologies that manufacturers install to prevent piracy. A related measure, H.R. 5544, also was introduced.
H.R. 5544, Untitled
Sponsor: Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va.
Introduced: Oct. 3, 2002
Committee: House Energy and Commerce, Judiciary
Description: H.R. 5544 would let consumers make personal copies of digital music, movies and books, provided they do so within "fair use" boundaries of copyright law. It would go further than a related bill, H.R. 5522, by protecting the rights of researchers to publish findings on technologies that can circumvent copy-protection mechanisms, language that has its roots in the controversy involving Princeton University computer scientist Edward Felten's research on encryption. The bill, which would revise the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, also would require those who sell copy-protected materials to make that clear on the packaging of their products.
H.R.5689, Untitled
Sponsor: Rep Diane E. Watson, D-Calif.
Introduced: Oct. 16, 2002
Committee: House International Relations
Description: H.R. 5689 would authorize a $1 million contribution to the World Intellectual Property Organization for projects aimed at promoting the integration of developing countries into the global intellectual property system.
H. Res. 110, Untitled
Sponsor: Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif.
Introduced: April 3, 2001
Committee: House Rules
Description: H. Res. 110 would prohibit the House from considering any legislation to divert fees collected by the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). Some lawmakers have been critical of the longstanding practice of using PTO-collected money for programs unrelated to patents and trademarks, but they have been unsuccessful in their attempts to halt the practice. The odds may be against them again in fiscal 2002 because President Bush's budget has proposed diverting $207 million of $1.14 billion anticipated PTO revenues.
H.J. Res. 116, Consumer Technology Bill of Rights
Sponsor: Rep. Christopher Cox, R-Calif.
Introduced: Oct. 7, 2002
Committee: House Judiciary, Energy and Commerce
Description: H.J. Res. 116 would affirm consumers' "fair use" rights to copy legally acquired digital goods, such as movies or music, and use them in a different place or with a different device. The measure would affirm the right to copy songs from compact discs in order to listen to them in cars or on computers, for instance. A companion measure, S.J. Res. 51, also was introduced.

Senate

S. 320, Intellectual Property and High Technology Technical Amendments Act
Sponsor: Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah
Introduced: Feb. 13, 2001
Committee: None
Final Action: Passed by both chambers
Description: S. 320 would make technical corrections to current patent, copyright and trademark laws. The Senate passed the non-controversial measure on a 98-0 vote Feb. 14. Bill sponsors Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee, used their floor time for debating the bill to defend Napster in the wake of a Feb. 12 federal court decision that threatened the popular music-swapping company. Two House companion bills, H.R. 614 and H.R. 615, also were introduced.
S. 407, Madrid Protocol Implementation Act
Sponsor: Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.
Introduced: Feb. 27, 2001
Committee: Senate Judiciary
Description: S. 407 would amend federal trademark law in order to implement the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks. The bill is designed to streamline the process for registering trademarks abroad by allowing U.S. businesses to apply just once to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). Rep. Howard Coble, R-N.C., introduced a companion bill, H.R. 741.
S. 432, Entrepreneurial Incubators Development Act
Sponsor: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.
Introduced: March 1, 2001
Committee: Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs
Description: S. 432 would help entrepreneurs who cannot afford lawyers and consultants with legal complexities such as understanding intellectual property rules and patents, and preparing corporate charters, partnership agreements, contracts and basic marketing strategies. The bill is one of six high-tech-related measures that sponsor Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., introduced the same day in an effort to fulfill a 2000 campaign pledge to spur job growth in upstate New York. The other bills were S. 426, S. 428, S. 429, S. 430 and S. 431.
S. 487, Technology, Education and Copyright Harmonization Act
Sponsor: Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah
Introduced: March 7, 2001
Committee: Senate Judiciary
Description: S. 487 would update copyright law in an effort to account for advancements in digital-transmission technologies that support distance learning. The bill is designed to make it easier and more cost effective for teachers whose students connect to the classroom online to enhance the learning process with visuals, sound or other interactive methods.
S. 1323, SBIR and STTR Foreign Patent Protection Act
Sponsor: Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.
Introduced: Aug. 2, 2001
Committee: Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship
Description: S. 1323 would authorize the Small Business Administration (SBA) to provide grants to small U.S. firms seeking technology patents in other countries. Only companies that develop their technologies under the SBA's research and technology-transfer programs would be eligible for the one-time grants of up to $25,000. The firms also would have to file for a patent in the United States first, and they would have to pay a percentage of their export sales or licensing fees into a fund for the grants. The bill would authorize $2.5 million for the grants in fiscal 2002, with that level increasing to $10 million by fiscal 2007.
S. 1611, Intellectual Property Protection Restoration Act
Sponsor: Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.
Introduced: Nov. 1, 2001
Committee: Senate Judiciary
Description: S. 1611 would allow people to sue states for violating intellectual property rights. Backers of the bill and the House companion measure, H.R. 3204, said a Supreme Court ruling made the legislation necessary.
S. 1754, Patent and Trademark Office Authorization Act
Sponsor: Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.
Introduced: Nov. 30, 2001
Committee: Senate Judiciary
Final Action:Passed by the Senate
Description: S. 1754 would authorize funds for the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) for five years. The bill would reserve all fees collected by the agency for its use. In recent years, Congress has dedicated some money from patent and trademark fees toward unrelated government programs, a practice that the intellectual property community has sharply criticized. The measure also would require PTO to develop an electronic system for filing and processing patent and trademark applications by December 2004, and to develop a strategic plan for the agency by October 2007.
S. 2031, Intellectual Property Protection Restoration Act
Sponsor: Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt.
Introduced: March 19, 2002
Committee: Senate Judiciary
Description: S. 2031 would allow people to sue states for violating intellectual property rights. The bill is identical to an earlier measure, S. 1611. Backers of the measures and the House companion legislation, H.R. 3204, said a Supreme Court ruling made the legislation necessary.
S. 2048, Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act
Sponsor: Sen. Ernest (Fritz) Hollings, D-S.C.
Introduced: March 21, 2002
Committee: Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation
Description: S. 2048 would force technology makers to build anti-piracy devices into their products. The bill would mandate new hardware or software in media devices in order to block the unauthorized copying of content. Hollywood has been a major supporter of the move, while many technology firms argue that the measure would stifle innovation. The legislation has become a key point of contention between the two industries and a lightning rod for debate on Capitol Hill. Consumer organizations also have expressed concern with the measure.
S. 2395, Anti-Counterfeiting Amendments
Sponsor: Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del.
Introduced: April 30, 2002
Committee: Senate Judiciary
Description: S. 2395 would extend current counterfeiting laws in an effort to curtail piracy. Under the bill, it would be illegal to counterfeit authentication labels, such as holograms on compact discs, software and movies. Currently, buying and selling fake computer software is illegal, but individuals cannot face prosecution for making fake labels. The bill also would allow counterfeiting victims to sue counterfeiters in federal courts.
S.J. Res.51, Consumer Technology Bill of Rights
Sponsor: Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.
Introduced: Oct. 17, 2002
Committee: Senate Judiciary
Description: S.J. Res. 51 would affirm consumers' "fair use" rights to copy legally acquired digital goods, such as movies or music, and use them in a different place or with a different device. The measure would affirm the right to copy songs from compact discs in order to listen to them in cars or on computers, for instance. A companion measure, H.J. Res. 116, also was introduced.

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