Heath W. Hoglund (patent attorney) sent me the following via e-mail this morning:
The Court of Federal Claims has scheduled oral argument on cross-motions for summary judgment in the patent fee diversion case. The hearing is set for May 13, at 2:00 p.m. in the National Court’s Building, 717 Madison Pl. N.W., Washington, D.C. Pleadings in the case are available at www.hhoglund.com/fees.htm
The case (a class action lawsuit) he mentions is Figueroa v. U.S. Heath’s site explains that the suit is over Congress’s act of diverting fees (paid by inventors) out of the USPTO’s account and then spent for all of the things they spend taxpayer dollars on (education, homeland security, national defense, pork). As I understand it, one of the arguments being that Congress cannot be “promoting the progress†by diverting fees (Heath argues that the fee diversion is a “special tax against intellectual property ownersâ€) and therefore Congress over-stepped their Constitutional authority in doing so.
More details about the case can be found on his web-site.
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I’ve heard that this year Congress is allowing the PTO to keep all of their income. I wonder if this case is the reason.