§14. Annual report to Congress

The Commissioner shall report to Congress annually the moneys received and expended, statistics concerning the work of the Office, and other information relating to the Office as may be useful to the Congress or the public.

(July 19, 1952, ch. 950, 66 Stat. 794 .)

Historical and Revision Notes

Based on Title 35, U.S.C., 1946 ed., §20 (R.S. 494).

Language is changed. The lists referred to in the corresponding section of existing statute, and which are omitted from the revised section, are the indexes provided for in section 11(a)4. The month of reporting is omitted. The report contemplated by R.S. 494 has been discontinued since 1925 under authority of 44 U.S.C., 1946 ed., §212.

Report to Congress

Pub. L. 100–703, title I, §103(c), Nov. 19, 1988, 102 Stat. 4674 , provided that: "The Secretary of Commerce shall, on the day on which the President submits the annual budget to the Congress, provide to the Committees on the Judiciary of the Senate and the House of Representatives-

"(1) a list of patent and trademark fee collections by the Patent and Trademark Office during the preceding fiscal year;

"(2) a list of activities of the Patent and Trademark Office during the preceding fiscal year which were supported by patent fee expenditures, trademark fee expenditures, and appropriations;

"(3) budget plans for significant programs, projects, and activities of the Office, including out-year funding estimates;

"(4) any proposed disposition of surplus fees by the Office; and

"(5) such other information as the committees consider necessary."

Similar provisions were contained in the following prior authorization act:

Pub. L. 99–607, §3(c), Nov. 6, 1986, 100 Stat. 3471 .

Computerized Data and Retrieval System; Report to Congress

Pub. L. 96–517, §9, Dec. 12, 1980, 94 Stat. 3028 , directed the Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks to report to Congress, within two years after Dec. 12, 1980, a plan to identify, and if necessary develop or have developed, computerized data and retrieval systems equivalent to the latest state of the art which could be applied to all aspects of the operation of the Patent and Trademark Office, and particularly to the patent search file, the patent classification system, and the trademark search file. The report was to specify the cost of implementing the plan, and how rapidly the plan could be implemented by the Patent and Trademark Office, without regard to the availability of future funding.

Cross References

Printing and distribution of the report of the Commissioner, see section 1337 of Title 44, Public Printing and Documents.

Provisions applicable to all the Departments, relating to the time of making annual reports, see section 2952 of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees.