II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4704 

To require the Comptroller General of the United States to submit a report 

regarding ways to improve the patent examination process at the United 

States Patent and Trademark Office, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 2, 2022 

Mr. TILLIS (for himself and Mr. LEAHY) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To require the Comptroller General of the United States 

to submit a report regarding ways to improve the patent 

examination process at the United States Patent and 

Trademark Office, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Patent Examination 

5 and Quality Improvement Act of 2022’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 4704 IS

1 (1) ADVANCED DATA SCIENCE ANALYTICS.— 

2 The term ‘‘advanced data science analytics’’ means 

3 techniques, such as artificial intelligence, machine 

4 learning, and other methods of analyzing large data 

5 sets, that may be used to make or implement policy 

6 recommendations. 

7 (2) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

8 the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual 

9 Property and Director of the Office. 

10 (3) OFFICE.—The term ‘‘Office’’ means the 

11 United States Patent and Trademark Office. 

12 SEC. 3. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

13 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

14 (1) Patents and other forms of intellectual 

15 property are important engines of innovation, inven16 tion, and economic growth. 

17 (2) All people of the United States depend on 

18 clear patent rights to— 

19 (A) secure protection of their own innova20 tions; and 

21 (B) enable them to avoid appropriating in22 novations that others have patented. 

23 (3) Recent studies— 

24 (A) indicate that many patents that the 

25 Office has issued do not satisfy the patentVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:32 Aug 05, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4704.IS S4704

pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 4704 IS

1 ability requirements of title 35, United States 

2 Code; and 

3 (B) have shown that— 

4 (i) the Office has limited resources; 

5 and 

6 (ii) the resource limitation described 

7 in clause (i) negatively affects the ability of 

8 the Office to conduct thorough and com9 plete patent examinations. 

10 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con11 gress that Congress must do more to enable the Office 

12 to improve— 

13 (1) the quality of patents issued by the Office; 

14 and 

15 (2) the patent examination process at the Of16 fice. 

17 SEC. 4. GAO REPORT ON PATENT EXAMINATION IMPROVE18 MENT. 

19 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 

20 of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 

21 shall submit to the Committee on the Judiciary of the Sen22 ate and the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of 

23 Representatives a report— 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 4704 IS

1 (1) regarding how to improve the patent exam2 ination process at, and the overall quality of patents 

3 issued by, the Office; 

4 (2) that shall— 

5 (A) place a particular emphasis on improv6 ing the process described in paragraph (1)— 

7 (i) with respect to the application of 

8 the conditions and requirements of sections 

9 101, 102, 103, and 112 of title 35, United 

10 States Code, including avoiding repetitive 

11 and unduly multiplied claims; and 

12 (ii) by more clearly defining what con13 stitutes a clear and thorough search by a 

14 patent examiner throughout the entire pat15 ent examination process at the Office; 

16 (B) in part, rigorously evaluate previous 

17 and current (as of the date on which the report 

18 is submitted) initiatives and pilot programs of 

19 the Office relating to the quality of patents 

20 issued by the Office, which shall include anal21 ysis of— 

22 (i) the reasons those pilot programs— 

23 (I) were successful; 

24 (II) would have been successful 

25 with modifications; or 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 4704 IS

1 (III) had irremediable flaws; and 

2 (ii) ways to use those pilot programs 

3 to beneficial effect in the future; 

4 (C) evaluate whether the Office needs to— 

5 (i) establish— 

6 (I) clear standards regarding 

7 what constitutes patent quality; and 

8 (II) patent quality metrics that— 

9 (aa) the Office can support; 

10 and 

11 (bb) patent applicants and 

12 the public can verify; 

13 (ii) provide additional time for patent 

14 examiners to examine patents; 

15 (iii) align non-compliance and clear 

16 errors with respect to the review of the 

17 work product of patent examiners; 

18 (iv) record examiner interviews and 

19 place those interviews in the record, either 

20 through audio files or automated tran21 scriptions; 

22 (v) assign patent applications to ex23 aminers who are most qualified to examine 

24 those applications based on— 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 4704 IS

1 (I) the technical background of 

2 the examiners; and 

3 (II) the number of applications 

4 that a particular examiner has already 

5 reviewed in a similar technical area; 

6 and 

7 (vi) establish a group that— 

8 (I) analyzes real-world cir9 cumstances, such as practices at other 

10 agencies and in the broader scientific 

11 community; and 

12 (II) uses information collected 

13 under subclause (I) to perform tar14 geted reviews of certain patent appli15 cations, such as patent applications 

16 from applicants who have had sci17 entific papers retracted; and 

18 (D) study evidence of fraud in the patent 

19 application process, which shall include sugges20 tions to address any such fraud, such as a task 

21 force that is similar to the task force of the Of22 fice investigating suspicious activities with re23 spect to trademark applications; and 

24 (3) that contains recommendations regarding 

25 ways to improve the training of patent examiners at 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
7 

•S 4704 IS

1 the Office, with a particular emphasis on improving 

2 that training with respect to— 

3 (A) the application of the conditions and 

4 requirements of sections 101, 102, 103, and 

5 112 of title 35, United States Code, including 

6 avoiding repetitive and unduly multiplied 

7 claims; 

8 (B) searches performed throughout the 

9 patent examination process to ensure that the 

10 Office issues fewer unclear and invalid patent 

11 claims; and 

12 (C) examination fields affected by emerg13 ing and complex technologies, including ad14 vanced data science analytics, to ensure that ex15 aminers are fully equipped to understand the 

16 applications of those technologies. 

17 SEC. 5. USPTO GUIDANCE ON PATENT EXAMINATION IM18 PROVEMENT. 

19 Not later than 1 year after the date on which the 

20 Comptroller General of the United States submits the re21 port required under section 4 (referred to in this section 

22 as the ‘‘covered report’’), the Director shall develop guid23 ance for patent examiners at the Office— 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
8 

•S 4704 IS

1 (1) regarding how to improve the patent exam2 ination process at, and the overall quality of patents 

3 issued by, the Office; and 

4 (2) that shall— 

5 (A) place a particular emphasis on improv6 ing the process described in paragraph (1)— 

7 (i) with respect to the application of 

8 the conditions and requirements of sections 

9 101, 102, 103, and 112 of title 35, United 

10 States Code, including avoiding repetitive 

11 and unduly multiplied claims; and 

12 (ii) by more clearly defining what con13 stitutes a clear and thorough search by a 

14 patent examiner throughout the entire pat15 ent examination process at the Office; and 

16 (B) take into consideration the findings 

17 and recommendations in the covered report. 

18 SEC. 6. REPORT. 

19 Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment 

20 of this Act, the Director, after soliciting public comment, 

21 shall submit to Congress a report that includes— 

22 (1) an explanation of how the Office will im23 prove the technical training of patent examiners at 

24 the Office with respect to emerging areas of tech25 nology; 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
9 

•S 4704 IS

1 (2) the status of the capabilities of the informa2 tion technology systems of the Office with respect 

3 to— 

4 (A) the examination of patents and trade5 marks; 

6 (B) proceedings conducted before— 

7 (i) the Patent Trial and Appeal Board 

8 of the Office; and 

9 (ii) the Trademark Trial and Appeal 

10 Board of the Office; and 

11 (C) the recordation of patent assignments; 

12 (3) a 5-year plan for further modernization of 

13 the information technology systems described in 

14 paragraph (2); and 

15 (4) an accounting of the use by the Office of 

16 advanced data science analytics, including from com17 mercially available sources, to improve the patent ex18 amination process where appropriate, including— 

19 (A) a description of how the Office uses 

20 advanced data science analytics with respect to 

21 the examination of patents to— 

22 (i) ensure that patent claims have 

23 adequate support in the specifications with 

24 respect to those claims; 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
10 

•S 4704 IS

1 (ii) improve clarity, quality, and con2 sistency; 

3 (iii) detect common sources of error; 

4 (iv) improve productivity; and 

5 (v) ensure assignment of patent appli6 cations to the examiner best qualified to 

7 examine that application; 

8 (B) a 5-year plan for further development 

9 of advanced data science analytics for the uses 

10 described in subparagraph (A); and 

11 (C) a description of how the findings made 

12 as a result of the uses of advanced data science 

13 analytics under subparagraph (A) shall be made 

14 available to the public on a regular basis. 

Æ 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS