IDEA Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 632 To amend chapter 11 of title 35, United States Code, to require the voluntary collection of demographic information for patent inventors, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 9, 2021 Ms. HIRONO (for herself, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. COONS, and Mr. LEAHY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend chapter 11 of title 35, United States Code, to require the voluntary collection of demographic informa- tion for patent inventors, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Inventor Diversity for 4 Economic Advancement Act of 2021’’ or the ‘‘IDEA Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:27 Apr 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S632.IS S632 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 632 IS SEC. 2. COLLECTION OF DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION FOR 1 PATENT INVENTORS. 2 (a) AMENDMENT.—Chapter 11 of title 35, United 3 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol- 4 lowing: 5 ‘‘§ 124. Collection of demographic information for 6 patent inventors 7 ‘‘(a) VOLUNTARY COLLECTION.—The Director shall 8 provide for the collection of demographic information, in- 9 cluding gender, race, military or veteran status, and any 10 other demographic category that the Director determines 11 appropriate, related to each inventor listed with an appli- 12 cation for patent, that may be submitted voluntarily by 13 that inventor. 14 ‘‘(b) PROTECTION OF INFORMATION.—The Director 15 shall— 16 ‘‘(1) keep any information submitted under sub- 17 section (a) confidential and separate from the appli- 18 cation for patent; and 19 ‘‘(2) establish appropriate procedures to en- 20 sure— 21 ‘‘(A) the confidentiality of any information 22 submitted under subsection (a); and 23 ‘‘(B) that demographic information is not 24 made available to examiners or considered in 25 the examination of any application for patent. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:27 Apr 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S632.IS S632 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 632 IS ‘‘(c) RELATION TO OTHER LAWS.— 1 ‘‘(1) FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT.—Any 2 demographic information submitted under subsection 3 (a) shall be exempt from disclosure under section 4 552(b)(3) of title 5. 5 ‘‘(2) FEDERAL INFORMATION POLICY LAW.— 6 Subchapter I of chapter 35 of title 44 shall not 7 apply to the collection of demographic information 8 under subsection (a). 9 ‘‘(d) PUBLICATION OF DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMA- 10 TION.— 11 ‘‘(1) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than Jan- 12 uary 31 of each year, the Director shall make pub- 13 licly available a report that, except as provided in 14 paragraph (3)— 15 ‘‘(A) includes the total number of patent 16 applications filed during the previous year 17 disaggregated— 18 ‘‘(i) by demographic information de- 19 scribed in subsection (a); and 20 ‘‘(ii) by technology class number, 21 technology class title, country of residence 22 of the inventor, and State of residence of 23 the inventor in the United States; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:27 Apr 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S632.IS S632 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 632 IS ‘‘(B) includes the total number of patents 1 issued during the previous year disaggregated— 2 ‘‘(i) by demographic information de- 3 scribed in subsection (a); and 4 ‘‘(ii) by technology class number, 5 technology class title, country of residence 6 of the inventor, and State of residence of 7 the inventor in the United States; and 8 ‘‘(C) includes a discussion of the data col- 9 lection methodology and summaries of the ag- 10 gregate responses. 11 ‘‘(2) DATA AVAILABILITY.—In conjunction with 12 issuance of the report under paragraph (1), the Di- 13 rector shall make publicly available data based on 14 the demographic information collected under sub- 15 section (a) that, except as provided in paragraph 16 (3), allows the information to be cross-tabulated to 17 review subgroups. 18 ‘‘(3) PRIVACY.—The Director— 19 ‘‘(A) may not include personally identifying 20 information in— 21 ‘‘(i) the report made publicly available 22 under paragraph (1); or 23 ‘‘(ii) the data made publicly available 24 under paragraph (2); and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:27 Apr 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S632.IS S632 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 632 IS ‘‘(B) in making publicly available the re- 1 port under paragraph (1) and the data under 2 paragraph (2), shall anonymize any personally 3 identifying information related to the demo- 4 graphic information collected under subsection 5 (a). 6 ‘‘(e) BIENNIAL REPORT.—The Director shall submit 7 to Congress a biennial report that evaluates the data col- 8 lection process under this section, ease of access to the 9 information by the public, and recommendations on how 10 to improve data collection.’’. 11 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 12 The table of sections at the beginning of chapter 11 of 13 title 35, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 14 end the following: 15 ‘‘124. Collection of demographic information for patent inventors.’’. (c) DEADLINE FOR BIENNIAL REPORT.—Not later 16 than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, and 17 every 2 years thereafter, the Under Secretary of Com- 18 merce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United 19 States Patent and Trademark Office shall submit to Con- 20 gress the biennial report required under section 124(e) of 21 title 35, United States Code, as added by subsection (a). 22 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:27 Apr 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S632.IS S632 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS