Coalition Urges No USPTO Fee Diversion or No Increase

A a November 17, 2004 article at GovExec.com, is reporting that "A broad coalition of intellectual property and business associations made a last-ditch attempt Wednesday to persuade appropriations negotiators to adopt language from a House bill concerning user fees for the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). If the lawmakers cannot agree to the language that would allow the PTO to keep all of the fees generated by its work, the coalition said in a letter to the leaders of the House Appropriations Committee, they should drop language that would increase user fees for patent applications."

The IPO Daily News also reported that "It is unclear how Congress will deal with the patent fee issue during its lame duck session that began yesterday."