Protecting American Innovation: RM Johnson on USTPO Fee-Setting

Thank you, Chairman Issa, and welcome to this hearing, all who are here, especially our panelists. The USPTO's Fee-Setting Authority has given it the flexibility to move its workers remote, plan its budgets ahead, and tailor fees for small and micro entities. Originally, it was set to expire in just a few days, on September 16. Yesterday, however, House and Senate Republicans were generous enough to kick the can down the road until after they are re-elected. The authority is now set to expire on December 12, 2026. Failing to reauthorize the USPTO's Fee-Setting Authority risks transforming a traditionally non-partisan agency into one that serves political ideology over merit. Ensuring that USPTO remains a beacon of American innovation means not just reauthorizing Fee-Setting Authority, but ensuring USPTO advisory committees can continue to advise the USPTO without interference by this administration. Two months after he was inaugurated, Trump's Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lettnick, fired every member of the patent public advisory committee and the trademark public advisory committee. A year and a half later, they finally swore in the first new members. When Congress originally authorized Fee-Setting Authority under the America Invents Act, we built in several oversight measures to ensure that this power could not be exercised without transparency, but rather with public input and independent expert review. PPAC and TPAC remain critical parts of those guardrails. Their full and independent participation is essential to ensuring that Fee-Setting remains accountable to all who rely on our patent and trademark systems, the big and the small. That's why these committees must be fully constituted as they are a necessary safeguard for independence. And that independence matters. If we do not give USPTO the flexibility it needs to set fees, access to our patent system will be taken over by special interests. This will make it even harder for small independent inventors to protect their inventions and easier for those who can pay to play to infringe on those rights. How do we know? Because we're already seeing this happen in the rest of the executive branch. Every day we learn about how easy it's become for oligarchs and powerful companies to buy a seat at Donald Trump's table. Millions of dark money in campaign contributions, lavish gifts like private jets, $400 million private jets, and business deals, rampant insider trading on predictive markets. Access to the Trump White House has transformed into a currency that only the rich and famous can afford. And while the wealthy are busy buying a seat at the table and enjoying their record profits, Americans across the country are left paying the price. Constituents of Georgia's fourth congressional district are struggling to afford rent or pay their mortgage, and the cost of groceries continue to skyrocket. Hardworking families should not have to struggle to afford health care while rich folks like Elon Musk get tax cuts while becoming trillionaires, and while Donald Trump lines his own pockets through unabashed greed built on the backs of American workers, consumers, and taxpayers. Conflicts of interest and self-dealing have become routine features in Trump's Washington, blurring the line between public service and private financial gain. This was a man who campaigned on draining the swamp, and yet all Trump has done is put up a golden gate at the swamp, and he is now charging it an admission fee to get into the swamp, and they're paying it. It's kind of like him charging his entry fee at the gate to the swamp, kind of like Iran charging admission fee at the Strait of Hormuz, because in Trump's America, money buys access, access buys influence, and influence too often becomes the law for everyone else. Innovation should not be a luxury that only the wealthy can afford, so I, for one, am determined to not allow USPTO to be sucked into that swamp. Reauthorizing this fee-setting authority with the transparency, public participation, and independent oversight that Congress intended is essential to keeping our patent system working for all, not just for those with the closest connection to big tech, the aspiring oligarch class, or the Trump White House. We have just a few months, ladies and gentlemen, to get this done. So, today is not the time for members of big money special interests to advocate for changes to the way USPTO operates, because they're not happy with Director Squire's patent trial and appeals board actions. Personally, I think we are overdue to examine proposals like Ms. Ross, Representative Ross's PREVAIL Act, which would reform PTAB abuses. Some of my colleagues agree with me, others disagree. That's why I'm not trying to make those changes right now. We have a program that everyone agrees has been successful. Inserting our own USPTO agendas into the debate will only serve to make this reauthorization controversial. I want to thank the witnesses for being here today. While I think this last-minute hearing is a distraction from the disastrous policies of the Trump administration, I do believe it is vital that Americans truly understand the importance of allowing the USPTO the independence and discretion it needs to keep America at the top of our global innovation economy. Because if we want to continue to lead the world in the technological advancements of tomorrow, then we must ensure today that the institution most responsible for protecting those innovations is independent and built to last. And with that, ladies and gentlemen, I yield back the balance of my time.