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Title: US Patent and Trademark Fee Modernization Act, 2004
Vote Smart's Synopsis:
Vote to pass a bill that would increase various Patent and Trademark Office's (PTO) user fees by approximately 15 percent.
Highlights:
- Provides that filing fees shall be decreased by 75 percent for small businesses, non-profit organizations, and independent investors filing electronically (Sec. 2).
- Provides that the Director of the U.S. PTO is responsible for establishing and charging fees for the search process to determine whether a patent application violates a standing patent or trademark (Sec. 2).
- Mandates that the above fees may not be increased more than 20 percent in any given year for the next three years (Sec. 2).
- Provides that the additional revenue generated by the increased fees shall be credited to a PTO account within the Treasury Department for the sole use of the PTO, as opposed to the previous method of fee diversion to unrelated programs (Sec. 5).