September 15, 1999

Assistant Commissioner for Patents
Group 3400, Don Kelly
Washington, DC 20321

RE: Maintenance Fees 

Dear Mr. Kelly

I have enclosed a copy of a recent news article about Maintenance Fees which should be of interest to the Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks. Also attached are: a brief summary of maintenance fee income form the 1998 P.T.O. report; A status report of the impact of maintenance fees on the patent system; and a letter to Congressman McCullum asking him to provide legislative relief.

Query, why are so many inventors filing so many patent applications and making so much work for Patent Examiners, if only 19% survive to full term? Is this a big technology giveaway or not? Business consultants are now advising inventors not to file a patent application unless they already have sufficient funds to market the invention. The only beneficiaries of this giveaway are large U.S. manufacturers and foreign producers.

Having a patent lapse for non payment of a maintenance fee is like having the county burning a house down for non payment of taxes. If the P.T.O. needs additional funds to operate, raising fees is a more reasonable and less destructive alternative. Leading the fight to prevent siphoning off millions of patent fees from the P.T.O. is a worthy cause but not as important as repealing the collection of maintenance fees in the first place.

One possible alternative to maintenance fees could be a fee on patents which have been assigned to a corporation. Non payment of the fee could void the assignment but not kill the patent. An assignment at least gives the impression of sufficient funds to maintain a patent.

Sincerely,


Frank A. Lukasik