To amend title 35, United States Code, to promote research among universities, the public sector, and private enterprise.

June 9, 2003

Mr. SMITH of Texas (for himself, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. COBLE, Mr. GOODLATTE, Mr. GREEN of Wisconsin, Ms. HART, Mr. BOUCHER, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. WEXLER, and Ms. BALDWIN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

To amend title 35, United States Code, to promote research among universities, the public sector, and private enterprise.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Cooperative Research and Technology Enhancement (CREATE) Act of 2003'.

SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON NONPUBLIC INFORMATION IN OBVIOUSNESS DETERMINATIONS.

(a) CONDITIONS FOR PATENTABILITY; NOVELTY- Section 102(f) of title 35, United States Code, is amended by inserting after `patented,' the following: `except that subject matter under this subsection shall not be considered prior art or as evidence of obviousness under section 103 of this title,'.

(b) CONDITIONS FOR PATENTABILITY; NONOBVIOUSNESS- Section 103(c) of title 35, United States Code, is amended to read as follows:

`(c) Subject matter developed by another person, which qualifies as prior art only under one or both of subsections (e) and (g) of section 102 of this title, shall not preclude patentability under this section where the subject matter and the claimed invention were, at the time of the earliest filing date for which a benefit is sought under this title, owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person.'.

SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.

(a) IN GENERAL- The amendments made by this Act shall apply to any patent granted before, on, or after the date of the enactment of this Act.

(b) SPECIAL RULE- The amendments made by this Act shall not affect any final decision of a court or the United States Patent and Trademark Office rendered before the date of the enactment of this Act, and shall not affect the right of any party in any action pending before the United States Patent and Trademark Office or a court on the date of the enactment of this Act to have that party's rights determined on the basis of the provisions of title 35, United States Code, in effect on the day before the date of the enactment of this Act.

END