By 9:01 p.m. last night, the Senate passed Senate Bill 1358 authorizing the Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office to use funds made available under the Trademark Act of 1946 for patent operations in order to avoid furloughs and reductions-in-force. Read twice, considered, read the third time, and passed without amendment by unanimous consent, the senate bill has been received in the House and referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. The estimated $60 to $70 million dollars will now be made available for patent operations, but it must be repaid by the end of FY2010.