Act to Authorize the United States to Participate in Chapter II of the Patent Cooperation Treaty
Public Law 99-616 · S. 1230 · 99th Congress · began in the Senate
Signed by Ronald Reagan (R) on Nov 6, 1986 · Commerce
Sponsor: Sen. Charles Mathias (R-MD)
Cosponsors (2): Sen. Patrick Leahy, Sen. Dennis DeConcini
Passage votes
- HouseVoice vote
- SenateVoice vote
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.
Summary
The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.
Act to Authorize the United States to Participate in Chapter II of the Patent Cooperation Treaty - Authorizes the United States to participate in Chapter II of the Patent Cooperation Treaty.
Authorizes the Patent and Trademark Office to act as the International Searching Authority and International Preliminary Examining Authority with respect to international applications. (Present law authorizes such Office to act only as an International Searching Authority.) Provides that the handling fee, preliminary examination fee, and any additional fees for the international preliminary examination shall be paid within such time as may be fixed by the commissioner of Patents and Trademarks.
Makes technical and conforming amendments to provisions relating to the national stage of processing international applications designating the United States.
Committees
The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.
Judiciary Committee · Senate · markup by, referred to, reported bySubcommittee: Intellectual Property Subcommittee
Data notes
A committee links to its page only where it exists in the current Congress; older and renamed committees are named without a link.
Timeline
From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 13 actions.
- Nov 6, 1986Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 99-616.
- Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- Oct 30, 1986PresidentPresident · Presented to President.
- Oct 17, 1986FloorFloor · Passed Senate without amendment by Voice Vote.
- FloorFloor · Passed House by Voice Vote.
- FloorFloor · Called up by House by Unanimous Consent.
- Dec 10, 1985CommitteeCommittee · Reported by Senate Judiciary Committee
- Dec 5, 1985CommitteeCommittee · Markup by Senate Judiciary Committee
- Nov 21, 1985CommitteeCommittee · Reported by Intellectual Property Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee
- CommitteeCommittee · Markup by Intellectual Property Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee
- Jun 24, 1985CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Intellectual Property Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee
- Jun 4, 1985CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Senate Judiciary Committee
- IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in the Senate
Data notes
Shows the introduction, each committee and subcommittee step the source dates (referral, hearings, markup, report, discharge), and the floor, conference, presidential and became-law steps. Calendar placements, messages between the chambers, amendments and committee report numbers are not shown for laws before the 108th Congress. Two entries the source lists twice are shown once.
Official record
The bill’s full text and every action, including introduction and committee steps, are on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.