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Patent Law Treaties Implementation Act of 2012

Public Law 112-211 · S. 3486 · 112th Congress · began in the Senate

Signed by Barack Obama (D) on Dec 18, 2012 · Commerce

Sponsor: Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT)

Cosponsors (2): Sen. Chuck Grassley,

Passage votes

  • HouseVoice vote
  • SenateUnanimous consent
Data notes

The final version of the law, as each chamber passed it. A chamber that passed it by voice vote or unanimous consent has no count. “Method not stated” means the record does not say how the chamber voted. Where the record has a member-by-member vote, the “Who voted for it” section shows who voted yea.

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Summary

The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.

Patent Law Treaties Implementation Act of 2012 - Amends federal patent law to implement the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs (Hague Treaty) and the Patent Law Treaty. (Both treaties were ratified by the Senate on December 7, 2007.)

Standardizes application procedures to be consistent with other member countries.

Title I: Hague Agreement Concerning International Registration of Industrial Designs - (Sec. 101) Allows any person who is a U.S. national, or has a domicile, habitual residence, or real and effective industrial or commercial establishment in the United States, to file an international design application for international registration with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) (thereby enabling U.S. applicants to file a single application with USPTO instead of separate applications in multiple countries).

Directs the USPTO to collect and transmit international fees and forward international design applications to the intergovernmental International Bureau recognized as the coordinating body under the Hague Treaty and its common regulations.

Requires an international design application on an industrial design made in the United States to constitute the filing of an application in a foreign country if such application is filed: (1) in a country other than the United States, (2) at the International Bureau, or (3) with an intergovernmental organization.

Requires the filing date of an international design application in the United States to be the effective registration date, except that any international design application designating the United States that otherwise meets the requirements of federal patent law (notwithstanding the implementation of the treaty) may be treated as a design application under existing federal laws applicable to design patents.

Permits applicants to request a review of the filing date of an international design application in the United States. Authorizes the USPTO Director to determine that such filing date is a date other than the effective registration date.

Sets forth requirements for determining the right of priority of national applications and prior foreign and national applications with earlier filing dates.

Directs the Director to provide for the examination of international design applications designating the United States. Authorizes the Director to issue patents based on such applications.

(Sec. 102) Extends provisional rights (the right to obtain royalties from persons who sell or engage in certain activities involving the invention during the period beginning on the date the application is published and ending on the date the patent is issued) to such international design applications filed under the treaty that designate the United States.

Extends the term for design patents from 14 to 15 years from the date of grant.

Title II: Patent Law Treaty Implementation - (Sec. 201) Revises patent application procedures with respect to filing dates, fees, and surcharges for fees, oaths, or declarations and claims submitted after the filing date. Authorizes the Director to prescribe conditions on references to previously filed applications.

Permits the Director to establish procedures to revive an unintentionally abandoned patent application, accept an unintentionally delayed payment of the fee for issuing each patent, or accept an unintentionally delayed response by the patent owner in a reexamination proceeding, upon petition by the applicant or patent owner.

Authorizes the Director to: (1) prescribe regulations and fees for the extension of application periods for inventors who previously filed provisional applications or applications for the same invention in a foreign country, (2) establish procedures to accept an unintentionally delayed claim for priority under the Patent Cooperation Treaty and to accept a priority claim that pertains to an application that was not filed within the specified priority period but was filed within the extended application period.

Directs the USPTO to maintain a register of interests in patents and applications for patents. Applies patent assignment requirements to interests that constitute an assignment, grant, or conveyance.

Committees

The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.

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Related bills

1 bill the Library of Congress relates to this one.

  • H.R. 6432Related bill

    Patent Law Treaties Implementation Act of 2012

Data notes

Related bills are identified by the Congressional Research Service, the House and the Senate: companion and identical bills, bills with similar text, bills that were folded into this law, and rules that brought it to the floor. A bill that is itself a public law in this site’s data links here; the others link to Congress.gov.

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Timeline

From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 18 actions.

  1. Dec 18, 2012Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 112-211.
  2. Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
  3. Dec 10, 2012FloorFloor · Presented to President.
  4. Dec 5, 2012FloorFloor · Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
  5. FloorFloor · On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote.
  6. FloorFloor · DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on S. 3486.
  7. FloorFloor · Considered under suspension of the rules.
  8. FloorFloor · Mr. Smith (TX) moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill.
  9. Sep 25, 2012FloorFloor · Received in the House.
  10. CommitteeCommittee · Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
  11. Sep 24, 2012FloorFloor · Message on Senate action sent to the House.
  12. Sep 22, 2012FloorFloor · Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent.
  13. Sep 20, 2012CalendarCalendar · Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 532.
  14. CommitteeCommittee · Committee on the Judiciary. Reported by Senator Leahy with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. Without written report.
  15. CommitteeCommittee · Committee on the Judiciary. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably.
  16. Aug 2, 2012CommitteeCommittee · Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  17. CommitteeCommittee · Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S5980)
  18. IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in Senate
Data notes

Every action the Library of Congress lists for the bill, from introduction to signing, plus the dated committee hearings. The source lists many steps twice (the chamber’s own entry and the Library of Congress copy, or a presidential and a became-law entry with the same words); those are shown once. Amendments are listed in their own section.

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Amendments

No amendments to this bill are on record.

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Amendments offered to this bill in either chamber, as the Library of Congress records them: each with a status read from its last recorded step: agreed to, rejected, withdrawn, ruled out of order, fell with another amendment, or offered with no vote recorded (most Senate amendments are only ever offered). The wording of each amendment is the source’s. Amendments to amendments and amendments to other bills are not listed.

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Official record

The bill’s full text is on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.