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 information for patent inventors, 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 ‘‘Inventor Diversity for 

5 Economic Advancement Act of 2021’’ or the ‘‘IDEA Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. COLLECTION OF DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION FOR 

2 PATENT INVENTORS. 

3 (a) AMENDMENT.—Chapter 11 of title 35, United 

4 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol5 lowing: 

6 ‘‘§ 124. Collection of demographic information for 

7 patent inventors 

8 ‘‘(a) VOLUNTARY COLLECTION.—The Director shall 

9 provide for the collection of demographic information, in10 cluding gender, race, military or veteran status, and any 

11 other demographic category that the Director determines 

12 appropriate, related to each inventor listed with an appli13 cation for patent, that may be submitted voluntarily by 

14 that inventor. 

15 ‘‘(b) PROTECTION OF INFORMATION.—The Director 

16 shall— 

17 ‘‘(1) keep any information submitted under sub18 section (a) confidential and separate from the appli19 cation for patent; and 

20 ‘‘(2) establish appropriate procedures to en21 sure— 

22 ‘‘(A) the confidentiality of any information 

23 submitted under subsection (a); and 

24 ‘‘(B) that demographic information is not 

25 made available to examiners or considered in 

26 the examination of any application for patent. 


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1 ‘‘(c) RELATION TO OTHER LAWS.— 

2 ‘‘(1) FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT.—Any 

3 demographic information submitted under subsection 

4 (a) shall be exempt from disclosure under section 

5 552(b)(3) of title 5. 

6 ‘‘(2) FEDERAL INFORMATION POLICY LAW.— 

7 Subchapter I of chapter 35 of title 44 shall not 

8 apply to the collection of demographic information 

9 under subsection (a). 

10 ‘‘(d) PUBLICATION OF DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMA11 TION.— 

12 ‘‘(1) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than Jan13 uary 31 of each year, the Director shall make pub14 licly available a report that, except as provided in 

15 paragraph (3)— 

16 ‘‘(A) includes the total number of patent 

17 applications filed during the previous year 

18 disaggregated— 

19 ‘‘(i) by demographic information de20 scribed in subsection (a); and 

21 ‘‘(ii) by technology class number, 

22 technology class title, country of residence 

23 of the inventor, and State of residence of 

24 the inventor in the United States; 


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1 ‘‘(B) includes the total number of patents 

2 issued during the previous year disaggregated— 

3 ‘‘(i) by demographic information de4 scribed in subsection (a); and 

5 ‘‘(ii) by technology class number, 

6 technology class title, country of residence 

7 of the inventor, and State of residence of 

8 the inventor in the United States; and 

9 ‘‘(C) includes a discussion of the data col10 lection methodology and summaries of the ag11 gregate responses. 

12 ‘‘(2) DATA AVAILABILITY.—In conjunction with 

13 issuance of the report under paragraph (1), the Di14 rector shall make publicly available data based on 

15 the demographic information collected under sub16 section (a) that, except as provided in paragraph 

17 (3), allows the information to be cross-tabulated to 

18 review subgroups. 

19 ‘‘(3) PRIVACY.—The Director— 

20 ‘‘(A) may not include personally identifying 

21 information in— 

22 ‘‘(i) the report made publicly available 

23 under paragraph (1); or 

24 ‘‘(ii) the data made publicly available 

25 under paragraph (2); and 


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1 ‘‘(B) in making publicly available the re2 port under paragraph (1) and the data under 

3 paragraph (2), shall anonymize any personally 

4 identifying information related to the demo5 graphic information collected under subsection 

6 (a). 

7 ‘‘(e) BIENNIAL REPORT.—The Director shall submit 

8 to Congress a biennial report that evaluates the data col9 lection process under this section, ease of access to the 

10 information by the public, and recommendations on how 

11 to improve data collection.’’. 

12 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

13 The table of sections at the beginning of chapter 11 of 

14 title 35, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

15 end the following: 

‘‘124. Collection of demographic information for patent inventors.’’. 

16 (c) DEADLINE FOR BIENNIAL REPORT.—Not later 

17 than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, and 

18 every 2 years thereafter, the Under Secretary of Com19 merce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United 

20 States Patent and Trademark Office shall submit to Con21 gress the biennial report required under section 124(e) of 

22 title 35, United States Code, as added by subsection (a). 

Æ 


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