Last month the House and Senate passed the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act (H.R. 2112). The bottom line for the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is that it now has spending authority set through the end of the current fiscal year, September 30, 2012. The bottom line is that the USPTO can spend up to $2.7 billion, assuming it collects that much in “fees and surcharges.”
This is up from about $2.1 billion in 2011.
The USPTO remains the only fully self-supporting fee based government organization and it should continue to be allowed to spend the fees that it collects to improve the quality of services that it provides to inventors and entrepreneurs.
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