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GAO-12-514R 1 (2012-04-25)

handle is hein.gao/gaobacfzk0001 and id is 1 raw text is: GAO Accounftability * Integrity - Reliability United States Government Accountability Office Washington, DC 20548 April 25, 2012 The Honorable Frank R. Wolf Chairman Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Committee on Appropriations House of Representatives Subject: Patent and Trademark Office: New User Fee Design Presents Opportunities to Build on Transparency and Communication Success Dear Mr. Chairman: This report formally transmits the briefing we gave on January 23, 2012 on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's (USPTO) user fee design (see enc. I), as well as subsequent comments from USPTO (see enc. Ill). Some updates were made to this briefing after it was initially delivered to USPTO officials. This letter presents a summary overview; the slides present our work and findings more completely. The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA), enacted in September 2011, significantly broadened USPTO's authority to design and set its user fees.1 Our objective was to analyze how aspects of USPTO's proposed user fee design may address challenges facing USPTO and stakeholders. We began this work under the authority of the Comptroller General in the context of questions raised over time by USPTO's appropriations and authorizing committees on the USPTO reauthorization debate, including how USPTO's fee design affected both its operations and oversight. Subsequently, you expressed interest in our analysis and asked that this work be addressed to you. We focused on patent fees and processes, and excluded trademark fees and processes, because patent fees represent almost all of USPTO fee collections. Given the authority to set or adjust patent fees newly granted to USPTO in the AIA, we assessed how USPTO fees are set, used, and reviewed using our Federal User Fees: A Design Guide.2 We reported on issues related to USPTO fee collections in a previous report.3 For more information on our objectives, scope, and methodology, see enclosure I1. In addition to this briefing, USPTO officials requested and received information from us on effective stakeholder communication in October 2011. 1Pub. L. No. 112-29. 2See GAO, Federal User Fees: A Design Guide, GAO-08-386SP (Washington, D.C.: May 29, 2008). 3See GAO, Budget Issues: Electronic Processing of Non-IRS Collections Has Increased but Better Understanding of Cost Structure Is Needed, GAO-10-11 (Washington, D.C.: Nov. 20, 2009). GAO-12-514R Patent and Trademark Office

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