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Washington, D.C.—The leader of the union representing employees of the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) has called on a key House committee to match Senate-approved legislative language that will strengthen protections for intellectual property rights and keep separate the fee-based funding for each of the agency’s two critical functions—the processing of trademark and patent applications.

Such a step “assures proper and dependable funding for (PTO), and that fees paid by industries and applicants are used for the purpose intended,” President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) wrote to key members of the House Judiciary Committee. The committee is chaired by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas).

PTO is a fee-funded agency to which applicants pay either a trademark application fee or a patent application fee. President Kelley noted that while PTO is subject to the congressional appropriations process, the separate fees for each principal function finance the operation of that process.

The Senate legislation gives PTO the ability to set fees appropriate to the costs of administering separately the patent and trademark processes, and ensures that none of the applicant fee monies are diverted to other government use.

In addition to the fee authority, the NTEU leader wrote, “We are concerned that there may be a move to dismantle the ‘fence’ between trademark and patent fees. It would be highly inappropriate to use fees paid by trademark applicants for functions of the Patent Office,” she said.

Kelley added that “NTEU is willing to work with members of the House to ensure that both the trademark and patent sides receive proper funding so that American inventors and businesses can market their products in a timely manner and aid our nation’s economic recovery.”

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments, including nearly 1,700 at PTO.