LAW ENFORCEMENT/JUDICIARY 
Military Appeals Court - 2

Generally, the appeals court reviewed cases from the courts of military review of the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force. The Navy Court of Military Review handled cases from the Marine Corps. The military review courts heard specified cases from armed services' courts martial, which are similar to general civilian trial courts.
HR 8188 was reported Sept. 26 by the Armed Services Committee (H Rept 96-1412). As passed by the House, it:
. Authorized the Supreme Court to review, in its discretion, cases from the military appeals court.
. Increased the number of judges from three to five.
· Provided 15-year terms for each judge appointed by the president. Currently, judges appointed to fill vacancies served only the remainder of the term of the vacancy.
· Provided that no more than three judges be from the same political party, continuing a similar requirement from existing law.
· Transferred administrative functions from the Defense Department to the appeals court.
Patent Law Amendments
Congress cleared a bill (HR 6933) that revised existing policy on federally funded inventions and simplified procedures for handling certain patent disputes. President Carter signed it into law Dec. 12 (PL 96-517).
HR 6933 allowed small businesses, universities and non-profit organizations to retain title to patents resulting from federally funded research. Under existing law the patent generally went to the agency that provided money for the invention.
Final action on the measure came Nov. 21 when the House by voice vote accepted the Senate version of the bill. The Senate passed the bill Nov. 20 after adopting an amendment that limited the new patent policy to small businesses, universities and non-profit organizations.
The original House bill, passed under suspension Nov. 17, would have made the new patent policy applicable to large corporations as well as small businesses, and included provisions covering inventions developed by federal employees.
Earlier in the year the Senate had passed two bills (S 414 - S Rept 96-480; S 2446 - no written report filed) dealing with the same issues as HR 6933. In addition, the Senate Judiciary Committee had reported another bill (S 1679 - S Rept 96-617) dealing with procedures for handling patent challenges.
As reported by the House Judiciary Committee Sept. 9 (H Rept 96-1307, Part I), HR 6933 had also included provisions making the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office an independent agency. But those sections were stricken by the Government Operations Committee when it reported the bill Sept. 23 (H Rept 96-1307, Part II). Existing law put the office in the Commerce Department.
Provisions
As cleared by Congress, HR 6933:
· Authorized the Patent and Trademark Office to re-examine patents that were challenged on either of two grounds: that a similar patent already existed or that the patent was based on technical material that already had been published.
Under existing law there was no re-examination of patents. Patents could be challenged only through a lawsuit claiming a patent infringement or seeking a judgment declaring the patent invalid. HR 6933 did not change this procedure and these types of disputes still would have to be resolved in court.
· Allowed any person to seek re-examination of a patent; required that a fee be paid by the person seeking the re-examination. The fee was to be set by the patent office.
· Required the patent office to send a copy of the re- examination request to the patent owner, if the owner were not the one seeking the re-examination.
. Required the commissioner of patents to determine within three months whether a substantial new question of patentability existed on the patent in question; made final and unappealable the commissioner's decision that no new question of patentability existed.
. Gave a patent owner at least two months to respond to a patent office decision that a re-examination should take place.
. Allowed the patent owner to appeal any adverse decision.
. Redefined the authority of the patent office to set fees for obtaining patents, allowing the commissioner to set fees as long as they represented the actual costs of processing and maintaining patents.
· Gave small businesses, universities and non-profit organizations the right to retain patents on federally funded inventions. The organization would have to advise the government of its decision to retain the patent within a "reasonable time" after the invention was disclosed. Exceptions to permit government ownership of the patent would be allowed in certain circumstances, including cases where the government determined that its ownership was necessary for intelligence activities.
· Defined "small business" to include firms defined un- der the Small Business Act (PL 85-536) and implementing regulations of the Small Business Administration; defined university and non-profit organization to include those fitting the definitions in the Internal Revenue Code or any state law covering such institutions.
. Gave the government certain rights over any patented invention created with federal funds, including the right to require reports on the use of a patented invention and the right of the government to use the invention anywhere in the world, royalty-free.
· Provided that inventors' reports required by the government be treated as confidential and not subject to re- quests for disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.
· Provided copyright protection for computer programs.
National Guard Torts
The Senate passed a bill (S 1858 - S Rept 96-791) by voice vote May 30 to bring National Guard members and medical personnel under the coverage of the Federal Tort Claims Act (PL 79-601).
It had been reported by the Judiciary Committee on May 22. In the House, it was referred jointly to the Judiciary and Armed Services committees, but there was no further action on the legislation.
First adopted in 1946, the Tort Claims Act made the United States liable for injuries caused by government employees who acted wrongfully while performing federally authorized duties. There was no limit on the amount of recovery under the act.
1980 CQ ALMANAC-405