Max
05-02-2003, 09:02 PM
Biotech Firms Want to Sway Patent Office Revamp
May 02, 2003 03:21:38 PM PST, Reuters
Biotechnology companies are pleading with Congress not to exempt human patents from some federal exclusivity laws as part of an upcoming modernization plan at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
At a briefing sponsored by the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) here on Friday, firms voiced their opposition to a possible proposal by some lawmakers to keep companies or universities that own human gene patents from barring their use in non-commercial research or diagnostic testing.
Some nonprofit and academic groups have complained that exorbitant licensing fees and the threat of lawsuits from patent holders are holding back genetics research.
Jeffrey Kushan, an attorney representing Genentech Inc. argued that exempting gene patents is unnecessary.
"No one is suing (to keep) universities from doing research," Kushan said. "The concern is not the academic research. It is the commercially focused research."
A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced the exemption measure last year and is considering reissuing it in the 108th Congress, one aide said.
Biotech firms are also pushing for changes to a Bush Administration proposal to modernize operations at the patent office by next October.
The plan, which requires an act of Congress, would increase by 10 to 20 percent the user fees industry pays to the agency in exchange for a streamlined patent review system and the hiring of 3,000 new reviewers over the next five years.
More than 40,000 biotechnology patents are currently pending at the patent office, half of which are for human-based drugs, diagnostics and other products, according to the agency. Patent office officials say they need the hiring increase to speed patent approvals, which now average nearly 28 months.
"We have not been able to hire all the examiners we need," said Dr. Jasmine Chambers, director of Technology Center 1600, the patent office's biotech branch.
But firms worry that not enough of the proposed increase in user fees will go toward hiring more reviewers, since the government routinely uses part of the patent office's income for other, often unrelated programs.
The Bush Administration has proposed to halve the level of "fee diversion" to other government programs next year, though that may not be enough for the industry.
"We really don't want (the fees) going to other parts of the government," said Lila Feisee, BIO's director of government relations for intellectual property.
Feisee estimated that biotech companies paid close to $100 million in user fees last year, though Chambers could not confirm the figure.
May 02, 2003 03:21:38 PM PST, Reuters
Biotechnology companies are pleading with Congress not to exempt human patents from some federal exclusivity laws as part of an upcoming modernization plan at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
At a briefing sponsored by the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) here on Friday, firms voiced their opposition to a possible proposal by some lawmakers to keep companies or universities that own human gene patents from barring their use in non-commercial research or diagnostic testing.
Some nonprofit and academic groups have complained that exorbitant licensing fees and the threat of lawsuits from patent holders are holding back genetics research.
Jeffrey Kushan, an attorney representing Genentech Inc. argued that exempting gene patents is unnecessary.
"No one is suing (to keep) universities from doing research," Kushan said. "The concern is not the academic research. It is the commercially focused research."
A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced the exemption measure last year and is considering reissuing it in the 108th Congress, one aide said.
Biotech firms are also pushing for changes to a Bush Administration proposal to modernize operations at the patent office by next October.
The plan, which requires an act of Congress, would increase by 10 to 20 percent the user fees industry pays to the agency in exchange for a streamlined patent review system and the hiring of 3,000 new reviewers over the next five years.
More than 40,000 biotechnology patents are currently pending at the patent office, half of which are for human-based drugs, diagnostics and other products, according to the agency. Patent office officials say they need the hiring increase to speed patent approvals, which now average nearly 28 months.
"We have not been able to hire all the examiners we need," said Dr. Jasmine Chambers, director of Technology Center 1600, the patent office's biotech branch.
But firms worry that not enough of the proposed increase in user fees will go toward hiring more reviewers, since the government routinely uses part of the patent office's income for other, often unrelated programs.
The Bush Administration has proposed to halve the level of "fee diversion" to other government programs next year, though that may not be enough for the industry.
"We really don't want (the fees) going to other parts of the government," said Lila Feisee, BIO's director of government relations for intellectual property.
Feisee estimated that biotech companies paid close to $100 million in user fees last year, though Chambers could not confirm the figure.