Representatives John Conyers Jr., a Michigan Democrat and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and Lamar Smith of Texas, the ranking Republican on the committee, introduced the Patent and Trademark Office Funding Stabilization Act on Tuesday. The bill seeks to address some major complaints about the USPTO, including a patent application backlog of more than two years.

The bill would allow the USPTO to impose a temporary 15 percent increase on its patent fees, and it would prohibit Congress from diverting patent fees away from the agency. Many tech companies and other critics have long complained about patent fee diversion.

In addition, the bill would allow the USPTO to hire new patent examiners and improve patent quality, Conyers and Smith said in a press release.

Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee have long tried to reach consensus on a more wide-ranging patent bill, which would allow new challenges to granted patents and would make it tougher for patent holders to prove willful infringement and collect huge damages. That bill, introduced in March 2009, is awaiting full Senate approval, but there remain several disagreements about the legislation. Similar bills introduced in 2005 and 2007 also went nowhere.

Senator Patrick Leahy, one of the chief sponsors of the Senate bill, released an amendment in March. On Tuesday, however, the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) said the new amendment would hurt U.S. innovation.