Hearing Information
Meeting Information
Tuesday, December 3, 2013 - 3:00pm in H-313 The Capitol View Announcement »
Amendment Deadline
Monday, December 2, 2013 - 4:00pm View Announcement »
Tuesday, December 3, 2013 - 3:00pm in H-313 The Capitol View Announcement »
Monday, December 2, 2013 - 4:00pm View Announcement »
COMMITTEE ACTION:
REPORTED BY RECORD VOTE of 8-3 on Tuesday, December 3, 2013.
FLOOR ACTION ON H. RES. 429:
ADOPTED by record vote of 229-185, after agreeing to the previous question by record vote 220-194, on December 4, 2013.
MANAGERS: Nugent/Polis
1. Structured rule for H.R. 3309.
2. Provides one hour of general debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on the Judiciary.
3. Waives all points of order against consideration of the bill.
4. Makes in order as original text for purpose of amendment an amendment in the nature of a substitute consisting of the text of Rules Committee Print 113-28 and provides that it shall be considered as read.
5. Waives all points of order against that amendment in the nature of a substitute.
6. Makes in order only those further amendments printed in part A of the Rules Committee report. Each such amendment may be offered only in the order printed in the report, may be offered only by a Member designated in the report, shall be considered as read, shall be debatable for the time specified in the report equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent, shall not be subject to amendment, and shall not be subject to a demand for division of the question.
7. Waives all points of order against the amendments printed in part A of the report.
8. Provides one motion to recommit with or without instructions.
9. Structured rule for H.R. 1105.
10. Provides one hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Financial Services.
11. Waives all points of order against consideration of the bill.
12. Provides that an amendment in the nature of a substitute consisting of the text of Rules Committee Print 113-29 shall be considered as adopted and the bill, as amended, shall be considered as read.
13. Waives all points of order against provisions in the bill, as amended.
14. Makes in order only the further amendment printed in part B of the Rules Committee report if offered by Representative Maloney of New York or her designee. The amendment shall be considered as read, shall be separately debatable for 10 minutes equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent, shall not be subject to amendment, and shall not be subject to a demand for division of the question.
15. Waives all points of order against the amendment printed in part B of the report.
16. Provides one motion to recommit with or without instructions.
# | Version # | Sponsor(s) | Party | Summary | Status |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
3 | Version 1 | Castor (FL) | Democrat | Delays flood insurance premium changes until completion of affordability study. | Submitted |
13 | Version 1 | Conyers (MI), Jackson Lee (TX) | Democrat | Strikes Section 3(b), the fee shifting provision. | Submitted |
14 | Version 1 | Conyers (MI), Watt (NC) | Democrat | Ensures that the PTO retains all of the user fees it collects. | Submitted |
15 | Version 3 | Conyers (MI), Watt (NC) | Democrat | SUBSTITUTE Revised Promotes transparency in patent ownership; protects customers who are targeted in infringement suits; directs the PTO to develop educational resources for small businesses; instructs the PTO and others to prepare reports on several issues including the use of deceptive demand letters. | Made In Order |
19 | Version 1 | DeGette (CO) | Democrat | Clarifies that lawsuits that both claim patent infringement related to technologies used to provide 9-1-1 or other emergency services and are brought against wireless carriers or IP-enabled voice service providers required by law to provide 9-1-1 services are under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. | Submitted |
26 | Version 1 | Goodlatte (VA) | Republican | Late MANAGERS Makes a few technical and clarifying changes. Specifically, under Section 3(d), it clarifies that the exception in paragraph one applies to biosimilars, it also adds an exception for actions seeking relief based on competitive harm, and ensures that the provision is not subject to reverse gamesmanship. Under Section 6(d) it makes clarifying changes that ensure that foreign courts cannot terminate licenses to US IP. Extends time required by the agencies to complete the various studies and reports required in the bill. | Made In Order |
6 | Version 2 | Jackson Lee (TX) | Democrat | Revised Modifies Sec. 9 of the bill by preserving an applicant's right under 35 U.S.C. Section 145 to bring civil action in district court to obtain a patent upon a showing of good cause or where justice so requires | Submitted |
7 | Version 1 | Jackson Lee (TX) | Democrat | Expands covered customer definition to all small businesses so long as their annual revenue does not exceed $25 million. | Made In Order |
8 | Version 1 | Jackson Lee (TX) | Democrat | Requires the Director to conduct a study regarding the economic impact of the changes in current law resulting from Sections 3, 4, and 5 of the bill on the ability of individuals and small businesses owned by women, veterans, and minorities to assert, secure, and vindicate their constitutionally guaranteed exclusive right to their inventions and discoveries. | Made In Order |
10 | Version 1 | Jeffries (NY) | Democrat | This amendment would create pleading parity between plaintiffs and defendants. | Submitted |
11 | Version 1 | Jeffries (NY) | Democrat | Leave intact a patent applicant's ability to challenge the USPTO's denial of a patent in district court. | Submitted |
12 | Version 1 | Jeffries (NY), Farenthold (TX) | Bi-Partisan | Stays discovery until a court decides a motion to transfer venue. | Submitted |
2 | Version 1 | Johnson, Hank (GA), Conyers (MI) | Democrat | Strikes Section 6 of the bill, which would require the Judicial Conference to promulgate certain rules and procedures. | Submitted |
9 | Version 1 | Kaptur (OH) | Democrat | Provides an exemption to nonprevailing parties in a suit that is a small business concern (50 employees or fewer) as defined under 15 U.S.C 602(a) in the Small Business Act | Submitted |
25 | Version 2 | Marino (PA) | Republican | Late Revised Inserts a bond attached to discovery requests, at the motion of the defendant, to cover the costs of any additional discovery costs and attorney’s fees for discovery requests beyond that for core documents. | Submitted |
1 | Version 1 | Massie (KY) | Republican | Strikes section 5, the "Customer-suit exception" provision. | Made In Order |
23 | Version 1 | Perlmutter (CO) | Democrat | Delays subsection (a), (b), and (c) of Section 6 until December 1st, 2015 to conform Congressional review of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in accordance with 28 U.S.C. 2074. | Submitted |
4 | Version 2 | Polis (CO) Chaffetz (UT), Marino (PA), Connolly (VA) | Democrat | Revised Requires claimants to provide additional disclosure information in any pre-suit notification to establish a willful infringement claim. | Made In Order |
5 | Version 1 | Polis (CO), Marino (PA) | Bi-Partisan | Requires the inclusion of disclosure information in pre-litigation demand letters in order to provide information for small companies and end users who receive demand letters. | Submitted |
20 | Version 1 | Rohrabacher (CA) | Republican | Strikes 9(a) from the bill and reorder the remaining subsections of Section 9. | Made In Order |
21 | Version 1 | Rohrabacher (CA) | Republican | Replaces the specific pleading, procedural, and evidentiary requirements to be met by plaintiffs in Section 3 and Section 6 with guidance to the Judicial Conference and district courts to develop rules of procedure to address abusive litigation practices. | Submitted |
22 | Version 1 | Rohrabacher (CA) | Republican | Exempts small businesses (defined as those who have fewer than 50 employees) from the bill’s “Discovery Limits” provision, so the limits on discovery provision would pertain only to firms with 50 or more employees. | Submitted |
16 | Version 1 | Watt (NC), Nadler (NY), Jackson Lee (TX) | Democrat | Restores the discretion in the fee-shifting provision under current law, and provides judges with greater flexibility to determine when to shift fees by allowing fee awards to prevailing parties in “appropriate cases” as opposed to “exceptional cases.” | Submitted |
17 | Version 1 | Watt (NC) | Democrat | Brings the fee shifting provision in the underlying bill more closely aligned with the Equal Access to Justice Act. Allows a judge to consider dilatory or other abusive tactics by the prevailing party in determining whether to reduce or deny a fee award. | Made In Order |
18 | Version 1 | Watt (NC), Chabot (OH) | Bi-Partisan | Requires a court to specify whether it will stay discovery pending the hearing on patent claim construction and deletes narrow, specific authority when it can expand discovery during that time. | Submitted |
24 | Version 1 | Watt (NC) | Democrat | Modifies the underlying fee-shifting provision by requiring the court to award fees only if the position of the non-prevailing party was substantially unjustified. | Submitted |
Motion by Ms. Slaughter to make in order and provide the appropriate waivers for amendments to H.R. 3309: amendments #10 by Rep. Jeffries (NY), which would create pleading parity between plaintiffs and defendants; amendment #23 by Rep. Perlmutter (CO),which delays subsection (a), (b), and (c) of section 6 until December 1st, 2015 to conform Congressional review of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in accordance with 28 U.S.C. 2074; amendment #14 by Rep. Conyers Jr. (MI) and Rep. Watt (NC), which ensures that the PTO retains all of the user fees it collects; amendment #11 by Rep. Jeffries (NY), which leaves intact a patent applicant's ability to challenge the USPTO's denial of a patent in district court; and amendment #2 by Rep. Johnson (GA) and Rep. Conyers Jr. (MI),which strikes section 6 of the bill, which would require the Judicial Conference to promulgate certain rules and procedures. Defeated: 3–8
Motion by Ms. Foxx to Report the rule. Adopted 8-3