Unleashing American Innovators Act of 2022

Mr. President, innovation is the lifeblood of the American economy. Thanks to our Founders, our Constitution anticipated the power of innovation and enshrined the basic idea that inventors should be given the incentive to do what they do best. The intellectual property clause has pushed the United States to be the longstanding global leader in innovation. Unfortunately, like too many other aspects of our society, the benefits of our innovation ecosystem have not been equally felt by Americans from all backgrounds. Today, I am proud to introduce the bipartisan Unleashing American Innovators Act, legislation that will make the patent system more accessible to Americans from all backgrounds and ensure that we do more to harness the untapped potential that exists in our country.

The Unleashing American Innovators Act builds on a legacy of broadening access to the patent system that I am particularly proud of. Ten years ago last week, Congress passed the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, which was the most significant update to our patent laws in nearly sixty years. Under the Leahy-Smith Act, we created a network of U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) satellite offices around the country, bringing the PTO closer to where Americans actually innovate. We lowered fees for small businesses and created a new micro-entity status to lower fees even further. We also created a Patent Pro Bono program to help make legal resources more accessible to prospective inventors.

Now is the time to build on that success. The Unleashing American Innovators Act will further boost access to the patent system for underrepresented groups by explicitly directing existing PTO satellite offices to reach out to those who are underrepresented in in patent filings. A recent PTO study found that only twenty-two percent of U.S. patents list a woman as an inventor, even though women make up more than fifty percent of our population. Other studies have found that African Americans apply for patents at about half the rate of white Americans. We need to boost participation from inventors in rural areas like Vermont as well. Congress must do more to ensure that these and other underrepresented groups have the opportunity to participate in the system.

This bill will go further than our efforts ten years ago by requiring the PTO to study whether additional satellite offices are needed to increase participation in the system by women, people of color, military veterans, individual inventors, and any other groups that are currently underrepresented. It will also create a network of smaller community outreach offices, which will do the hard work of meeting prospective innovators where they live. These offices will partner with local community organizations to create community-based programs to educate Americans about the patent system and the benefits of innovation and entrepreneurship. One such office will be located in northern New England so that it can help provide assistance to inventors in Vermont.

The Unleashing American Innovators Act will also establish a patentability assessment pilot program to assist first-time prospective inventors in determining whether an idea they have is likely to meet the threshold for patentability. It will give the PTO study the efficacy of the Patent Pro Bono Program to ensure that it is meeting the needs of underrepresented groups. Finally, it will further reduce application fees for small businesses and micro entities to reduce the costs of obtaining a patent.

By building on the structures we put in place in the Leahy-Smith Act ten years ago, we can ensure that the next generation of innovators in America reflect the full potential of our greatest natural resource-- the genius of the American people. I am proud to partner with Senator Tillis on this important piece of legislation. Expanding access to the patent system is not a partisan issue; it is an issue of maintaining American competitiveness and extending opportunity to all Americans, no matter their background, economic status, or location. I urge the Senate to act swiftly to pass this bill.

Mr. President. One of the fundamental underpinning of the patent system is transparency. In exchange for obtaining limited exclusive rights over their inventions, inventors disclose those inventions to the public, making transparent something that might otherwise remain secret. This transparency has tremendous benefits for our society by accelerating innovation, and the patent system as a whole helps to drive our economy. I have fought for many years to bring even more transparency into the patent system to further benefit the public, particularly by pushing for public disclosure of who actually owns a patent.

I am proud today to continue my partnership with Senator Tillis on intellectual property issues by introducing the bipartisan Pride in Patent Ownership Act, which requires patent owners to disclose their true identity when a patent is issued and when it is sold. I have long supported efforts in the Senate to achieve this goal and am excited to spearhead this effort now.

The American people--any of whom may be charged with infringing a given patent--have a right to know who owns a patent, which often changes hands after being issued to the initial inventor. Currently, to know who owns a patent, you have to engage in costly, time-consuming litigation to uncover that information. That simply shouldn't be the case. This bill helps to ensure a fair innovation system for small businesses, non-profits, and independent entrepreneurs who lack the resources to engage in costly litigation just to discover who possesses exclusive patent rights over a particular invention.

Transparency in patent ownership will also help us better understand how we are doing in the global competition for innovation. Currently, a whopping 52% of U.S. patents are issued to foreign applicants. But there is no systematic way to track ownership of U.S patents, including when patents are sold to foreign entities. And Chinese companies like Huawei--which often serve as proxies for the Chinese Communist Party-- are wielding patent portfolios of unknown size and scope in the United States.

Although we do not know what specific patents Huawei owns, in the last two years, it claims to have received an estimated $1.2 to $1.3 billion in patent licensing fees, and it is likely that most of those licensing fees come from Americans, based on U.S. patents. Furthermore, Huawei's patents cover fundamental technologies that will power our global future, such as the 50 mobile network. Its dominance over these cutting-edge technologies unquestionably advantages China and disadvantages America. It is imperative, both for our innovation economy and national security, to know who owns what patents and who is profiting.

Senator Tillis and I feel strongly about transparency in patent ownership. We initially proposed this bill as an amendment to the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act earlier this Congress, and it was cleared by the Chair and Ranking Member of the full Judiciary Committee for inclusion in that bill's manager's package that ultimately failed. We have since received feedback from a wide spectrum of stakeholders, whose input we have worked hard to incorporate. As Chairman of the Senate's Intellectual Property Subcommittee, I will continue to utilize all of our Subcommittee's tools along with Ranking Member Tillis to improve transparency around patent ownership. This bill is an essential next step in that process, and I urge the Senate to act swiftly to pass it.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 571, S. 2773.

I ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported substitute amendment be agreed to; the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to print my bill for introduction in the Congressional Record. The bill's purpose is to designate the community-based outpatient clinic of the Department of Veterans Affairs in San Angelo, Texas, as the ``Colonel Charles and JoAnne Powell Department of Veterans Affairs Clinic''.