Howard Berman: “I must regretfully vote against the Coble amendment. I say regretfully because, while I fully support the objective of…”

“I must regretfully vote against the Coble amendment. I say regretfully because, while I fully support the objective of the amendment, I cannot support the program cuts it uses as offsets. The objective of the amendment is to restore to the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) the ability to spend $134 million in fees paid by patent and trademark applicants, and thus to restore its ability to perform critical functions. However, I do not believe that we should restore these funds by cutting in half the funds provided to the cultural and educational exchange programs operated by the Department of State. I do not want anyone to interpret my vote against this amendment as a sign I condone the now-annual raids on PTO fees to pay for other programs. I unequivocally oppose these raids, and will work to ensure that such raids cannot and do not occur in the future. Over the past few years, Congress has diverted to other agencies hundreds of millions of dollars in fees paid to the PTO by patent and trademark applicants. The Congress has tried to cover up these diversions by engaging in an accounting shell game, but the end result each year is the same: hundreds of millions in fees paid to the PTO go to fund other agencies. This year, the diversion has gotten totally out of control.”