Jim Sensenbrenner: “Mr. Chairman, one of our jobs in Congress is to make the government work. We have heard ample data that has been…”

“Mr. Chairman, one of our jobs in Congress is to make the government work. We have heard ample data that has been presented on both sides of the aisle that the PTO is in crisis and unless we pass legislation, things will get worse rather than better. What this bill does is that it allows the PTO to add an additional 2,900 patent examiners, government employees, so that there will be more people on the government payroll to examine these applications. If the bill goes down, those 2,900 people will not be there. And we have heard a lot about diversion from the gentleman from California (Mr. Berman), the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lofgren) and others. This bill ends the diversion. So we will not be using PTO fees for other government programs. If the bill goes down, the diversion will continue. The outsourcing issue, the amendment that has been agreed to will, number one, require that the outsourcing if it is done be done by a U.S. corporation; two, it will be done by American citizens; and, three, it will be done in the United States of America. If we do not do that, then we are going to further complicate the patent process.”