II
117th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 632
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 information for patent inventors, and for other purposes.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the Inventor Diversity for Economic Advancement Act of 2021
or the IDEA Act
.
Collection of demographic information for patent inventors
Amendment
Chapter 11 of title 35, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
Collection of demographic information for patent inventors
Voluntary collection
The Director shall provide for the collection of demographic information, including gender, race, military or veteran status, and any other demographic category that the Director determines appropriate, related to each inventor listed with an application for patent, that may be submitted voluntarily by that inventor.
Protection of information
The Director shall—
keep any information submitted under subsection (a) confidential and separate from the application for patent; and
establish appropriate procedures to ensure—
the confidentiality of any information submitted under subsection (a); and
that demographic information is not made available to examiners or considered in the examination of any application for patent.
Relation to other laws
Freedom of Information Act
Any demographic information submitted under subsection (a) shall be exempt from disclosure under section 552(b)(3) of title 5.
Federal information policy law
Subchapter I of chapter 35 of title 44 shall not apply to the collection of demographic information under subsection (a).
Publication of demographic information
Report required
Not later than January 31 of each year, the Director shall make publicly available a report that, except as provided in paragraph (3)—
includes the total number of patent applications filed during the previous year disaggregated—
by demographic information described in subsection (a); and
by technology class number, technology class title, country of residence of the inventor, and State of residence of the inventor in the United States;
includes the total number of patents issued during the previous year disaggregated—
by demographic information described in subsection (a); and
by technology class number, technology class title, country of residence of the inventor, and State of residence of the inventor in the United States; and
includes a discussion of the data collection methodology and summaries of the aggregate responses.
Data availability
In conjunction with issuance of the report under paragraph (1), the Director shall make publicly available data based on the demographic information collected under subsection (a) that, except as provided in paragraph (3), allows the information to be cross-tabulated to review subgroups.
Privacy
The Director—
may not include personally identifying information in—
the report made publicly available under paragraph (1); or
the data made publicly available under paragraph (2); and
in making publicly available the report under paragraph (1) and the data under paragraph (2), shall anonymize any personally identifying information related to the demographic information collected under subsection (a).
Biennial report
The Director shall submit to Congress a biennial report that evaluates the data collection process under this section, ease of access to the information by the public, and recommendations on how to improve data collection.
.
Technical and conforming amendment
The table of sections at the beginning of chapter 11 of title 35, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
124. Collection of demographic information for patent inventors.
.
Deadline for biennial report
Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, and every 2 years thereafter, the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office shall submit to Congress the biennial report required under section 124(e) of title 35, United States Code, as added by subsection (a).