IDEA Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2281 To amend chapter 11 of title 35, United States Code, to require the voluntary collection of demographic information for patent applications, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 25, 2019 Ms. HIRONO (for herself and Mr. TILLIS) 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 applications, 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 2019’’ or the ‘‘IDEA Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:10 Jul 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2281.IS S2281 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 2281 IS SEC. 2. COLLECTION OF DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION FOR 1 PATENT APPLICATIONS. 2 (a) AMENDMENT.—Chapter 11 of title 35, United 3 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol- 4 lowing new section: 5 ‘‘§ 124. Collection of demographic information for 6 patent applications 7 ‘‘(a) VOLUNTARY COLLECTION.—The Director shall 8 provide for the collection of demographic information, in- 9 cluding gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual ori- 10 entation, age, military or veterans status, disability (as de- 11 fined in section 3 of the Americans with Disabilities Act 12 of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12102)), education level attained, and 13 income level, related to each inventor listed with an appli- 14 cation for patent, that may be submitted voluntarily by 15 that inventor. 16 ‘‘(b) ACCESS TO INFORMATION.—Any information 17 submitted under subsection (a) shall be kept confidential 18 and separate from the application for patent. The Director 19 shall establish appropriate procedures to ensure the con- 20 fidentiality of any information submitted under subsection 21 (a) and to ensure that demographic information is not in- 22 cluded when the application for patent is examined. 23 ‘‘(c) PUBLICATION OF DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMA- 24 TION.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:10 Jul 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2281.IS S2281 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 2281 IS ‘‘(1) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than Jan- 1 uary 31 of each year, the Director shall publish a re- 2 port that includes, except as provided in paragraph 3 (2), the following: 4 ‘‘(A) The total number of patent applica- 5 tions filed during the previous year 6 disaggregated by demographic information de- 7 scribed in subsection (a) and by class number 8 and title. 9 ‘‘(B) The total number of patents issued 10 during the previous year disaggregated by de- 11 mographic information described in subsection 12 (a) and by class number and title. 13 ‘‘(2) PRIVACY.—Personally identifying informa- 14 tion may not be included in the report described in 15 paragraph (1). 16 ‘‘(3) FORMAT.—The report described in para- 17 graph (1) shall be made available in a format that 18 allows the demographic information to be cross-tab- 19 ulated to review subgroups. 20 ‘‘(4) DATA AVAILABILITY.—The Director shall 21 make the data underlying the report described in 22 paragraph (1) publicly available online in a format 23 that is sortable by demographic information de- 24 scribed in subsection (a), class number, and title. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:10 Jul 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2281.IS S2281 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 2281 IS ‘‘(d) BIANNUAL REPORT.—The Director shall submit 1 to Congress a biannual report that evaluates the data col- 2 lection process under this section, ease of access to the 3 information by the public, and recommendations on how 4 to improve data collection.’’. 5 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 6 The table of sections at the beginning of chapter 11 of 7 title 35, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 8 end the following new item: 9 ‘‘124. Collection of demographic information for patent applications.’’. (c) DEADLINE FOR BIANNUAL REPORT.—Not later 10 than 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, 11 and every 2 years thereafter, the Under Secretary of Com- 12 merce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United 13 States Patent and Trademark Office shall submit to Con- 14 gress the biannual report required pursuant to section 15 124(d) of title 35, United States Code, as added by sub- 16 section (a). 17 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:10 Jul 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2281.IS S2281 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS