Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 118.djvu/2957

 118 STAT. 2927 PUBLIC LAW 108–447—DEC. 8, 2004 ‘‘(iii) $300 for each application for an original plant patent; ‘‘(iv) $500 for the national stage of each inter national application; and ‘‘(v) $500 for each application for the reissue of a patent. ‘‘(C) The provisions of section 111(a)(3) of this title relating to the payment of the fee for filing the application shall apply to the payment of the fee specified in this paragraph with respect to an application filed under section 111(a) of this title. The provisions of section 371(d) of this title relating to the payment of the national fee shall apply to the payment of the fee specified in this paragraph with respect to an international application. ‘‘(D) The Director may by regulation provide for a refund of any part of the fee specified in this paragraph for any applicant who files a written declaration of express abandonment as prescribed by the Director before an exam ination has been made of the application under section 131 of this title, and for any applicant who provides a search report that meets the conditions prescribed by the Director. ‘‘(E) For purposes of subparagraph (A), a ‘qualified search authority’ may not include a commercial entity unless— ‘‘(i) the Director conducts a pilot program of limited scope, conducted over a period of not more than 18 months, which demonstrates that searches by commer cial entities of the available prior art relating to the subject matter of inventions claimed in patent applications— ‘‘(I) are accurate; and ‘‘(II) meet or exceed the standards of searches conducted by and used by the Patent and Trade mark Office during the patent examination process; ‘‘(ii) the Director submits a report on the results of the pilot program to Congress and the Patent Public Advisory Committee that includes— ‘‘(I) a description of the scope and duration of the pilot program; ‘‘(II) the identity of each commercial entity participating in the pilot program; ‘‘(III) an explanation of the methodology used to evaluate the accuracy and quality of the search reports; and ‘‘(IV) an assessment of the effects that the pilot program, as compared to searches conducted by the Patent and Trademark Office, had and will have on— ‘‘(aa) patentability determinations; ‘‘(bb) productivity of the Patent and Trade mark Office; ‘‘(cc) costs to the Patent and Trademark Office; ‘‘(dd) costs to patent applicants; and ‘‘(ee) other relevant factors;

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