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The following table displays the USPTO’s
total budgetary resources available for spending over the past four years.
Also presented are the human resources that the USPTO has employed to
respond to the increases in patent and trademark filings. In prior years,
the budgetary resources available for spending did not include amounts
that were not available through the end of the fiscal year that became
available for spending at the beginning of the following fiscal year once
apportioned by the OMB.
Budgetary Resources Available for Spending
(Dollars in Millions)
Budgetary Resources
Available for Spending
(dollars in millions) |
$1,193.0 |
$1,235.2 |
$1,511.1 |
$1,680.1 |
| Percentage Change |
4.0% |
3.5% |
22.3% |
11.2% |
 |
| Patent Examiners |
3,579 |
3,681 |
4,177 |
4,779 |
| Percentage Change |
1.2% |
2.8% |
13.5% |
14.4% |
|
| Trademark Examining
Attorneys |
256 |
286 |
357 |
413 |
| Percentage Change |
(0.8)% |
11.7% |
24.8% |
15.7% |
|
As evident from the above table, total budgetary resources available
for spending increased significantly in FY 2006, a 11.2 percent increase
over the prior fiscal year and a 40.8 percent increase over the past three
fiscal years. Almost half of the increase in available budgetary resources
was used to fund the increased cost of additional human capital to address
the growing average complexity of patent applications and the increase
in patent and trademark filings.
Patent and Trademark Filings
| Patent Filings |
355,418 |
378,984 |
409,532 |
443,6521 |
| Percentage Change |
0.6% |
6.6% |
8.1% |
8.3% |
|
| Trademark Filings |
267,218 |
298,489 |
323,501 |
354,775 |
| Percentage Change |
3.2% |
11.7% |
8.4% |
9.7% |
|
The increase in available budgetary resources also allows the USPTO to
apply additional funds towards the accomplishment of strategic goals and
other initiatives that are associated with the performance goals contained
in the 21st Century Strategic Plan and the PMA. This year, in
support of the overall USPTO goal of reducing pendency, the USPTO successfully
competitively sourced PCT prior art searches, classification of patent
documents, and patent reclassification functions. Competitive sourcing
work in these areas will allow our internal resources to concentrate on
other strategic goals and initiatives for more efficient management of
our performance goals.
The USPTO fee collections did not exceed the fee appropriation of $1,683.1
million during FY 2006, therefore the USPTO was able to spend all $1,657.6
million of fees collected during the year. The USPTO did not meet planned
fee collections primarily due to a decrease in the expected number of
claims being filed per application and less issue fee collections due
to focusing resources on reducing patent allowance error rates. The reduction
in patent allowance error rates resulted from the recent quality initiatives
implemented as a part of the continuing emphasis on patent quality. Although
less than planned, the FY 2006 fee collections increased 10.7 percent
over FY 2005 collections of $1,497.2 million, all of which was appropriated.
This increase in collections is due to an increase in patent and trademark
application filings, as well as an increase in maintenance fees received.
As defined earlier, temporarily unavailable fee collections occur when
the USPTO is not appropriated the authority to spend all fees collected
during a given year. During FY 2006, the USPTO did not collect any fee
collections that were designated as temporarily unavailable. As a result,
the $516.5 million in temporarily unavailable fee collections at the end
of FY 2004 remained the same through FY 2006.
The table below illustrates amounts that Congress has appropriated to
the USPTO over the past four fiscal years, as well as the cumulative unavailable
fee collections.
Temporary Unavailable Fee Collections
(Dollars in Millions)
| Fiscal
year fee collections |
$ 1,193.7 |
$ 1,321.0 |
$ 1,497.2 |
$ 1,657.6 |
| Fiscal
year collections appropriated |
(1,015.2) |
(1,222.5) |
(1,497.2) |
(1,657.6) |
| Reductions
- Rescissions |
-
 |
77.0
|
-
|
-
|
| Fiscal
year unavailable collections |
$ 178.5 |
$ 175.5 |
$ - |
$ - |
| Prior
year collections unavailable |
329.3 |
341.0 |
516.5 |
516.5 |
| Prior
year collections subsequently appropriated |
(166.8)
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
| Cumulative
temporarily unavailable fee collections |
$ 341.0
 |
$ 516.5
|
$ 516.5
|
$ 516.5
|
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In addition to these annual restrictions, collections of $233.5 million
are unavailable in accordance with the OBRA of 1990, and deposited in
a special fund receipt account at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
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