H.R. 3114: To authorize the Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office to use funds made available under the Trademark Act of 1946 for patent operations in order to avoid furloughs and reductions-in-force, and for other purposes.

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H.R. 3114: To authorize the Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office to use funds made available under the Trademark Act of 1946 for patent operations in order to avoid furloughs and reductions-in-force, and for other purposes.

111th Congress · introduced 2009-07-07 · Commerce · Latest: Became Public Law No: 111-45.

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Official title

To authorize the Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office to use funds made available under the Trademark Act of 1946 for patent operations in order to avoid furloughs and reductions-in-force, and for other purposes.

Plain summary

(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary of that version is repeated here.) Authorizes the Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to use funds made available for FY2009 under the Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009 to support the processing of patents and other activities, services, and materials relating to patents, notwithstanding provisions restricting the use of such fees to activities relating trademark registrations, provided the Director certifies to Congress that the use of such funds is reasonably necessary to avoid USPTO furloughs or a reduction-in-force, or both, and does not create a substantial risk of a furlough or reduction-in-force of personnel working in the Trademark Operation of the USPTO. Requires the Director, on the exercise of that authority and notwithstanding any other law, to establish a surcharge on patent fees to repay any funds drawn down. Terminates such authority on June 30, 2010. Requires: (1) the surcharge to begin no later than September 30, 2011; and (2) the funds so used to be repaid to trademark operations not later than September 30, 2014.

Congressional Research Service summary (Public Law), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.

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Alternatives

Needs sources: no published alternatives yet (for example a different bill, a law instead of an amendment, or keeping current law). We only show items backed by a published source. Suggest one.

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Officials and money

Sponsor: Rep. Conyers, John, Jr. [D-MI-14] · 3 cosponsors

Cost estimate: CBO cost estimate: H.R. 3114, An act to authorize the Director of the US Patent and Trademark Office to use funds made available under the Trademark Act of 1946 for patent operations in order to avoid furloughs and reductions-in-force (2009-08-13); CBO cost estimate: H.R. 3114, An act to authorize the Director of the US Patent and Trademark Office to use funds made available under the Trademark Act of 1946 for patent operations in order to avoid furloughs and reductions-in-force (2009-08-13)

Cosponsors on this site

Darrell Issa (R-CA), Henry C. "Hank" Johnson, Jr. (D-GA), Brad Sherman (D-CA)

No linked floor roll calls in our collected records yet. This does not mean the bill has never had a vote. Check the official bill history.

Sources

• Congressional Research Service summary (Public Law)
• Congress.gov
• Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-111hr3114.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/111/hr>

Record fed-us-cong111-hr3114 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong111 · updated 2026-11-15 by psicol fed-bills-cong111