II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4394 

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 

JULY 30, 2020 

Ms. HIRONO (for herself, Mr. TILLIS, and Mr. COONS) 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 2020’’ 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 FEDERAL INFORMATION POLICY

2 LAW.—Subchapter I of chapter 35 of of title 44 shall not 

3 apply to the collection of demographic information under 

4 subsection (a). 

5 ‘‘(d) PUBLICATION OF DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMA6 TION.— 

7 ‘‘(1) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than Jan8 uary 31 of each year, the Director shall make pub9 licly available a report that, except as provided in 

10 paragraph (3)— 

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

12 applications filed during the previous year 

13 disaggregated— 

14 ‘‘(i) by demographic information de15 scribed in subsection (a); and 

16 ‘‘(ii) by technology class number, 

17 technology class title, country of residence 

18 of the inventor, and State of residence of 

19 the inventor in the United States; 

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

21 issued during the previous year disaggregated— 

22 ‘‘(i) by demographic information de23 scribed in subsection (a); and 

24 ‘‘(ii) by technology class number, 

25 technology class title, country of residence 


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1 of the inventor, and State of residence of 

2 the inventor in the United States; and 

3 ‘‘(C) includes a discussion of the data col4 lection methodology and summaries of the ag5 gregate responses. 

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

7 issuance of the report under paragraph (1), the Di8 rector shall make publicly available data based on 

9 the demographic information collected under sub10 section (a) that, except as provided in paragraph 

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

12 review subgroups. 

13 ‘‘(3) PRIVACY.—The Director— 

14 ‘‘(A) may not include personally identifying 

15 information in— 

16 ‘‘(i) the report made publicly available 

17 under paragraph (1); or 

18 ‘‘(ii) the data made publicly available 

19 under paragraph (2); and 

20 ‘‘(B) in making publicly available the re21 port under paragraph (1) and the data under 

22 paragraph (2), shall anonymize any personally 

23 identifying information related to the demo24 graphic information collected under subsection 

25 (a). 


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

2 to Congress a biennial report that evaluates the data col3 lection process under this section, ease of access to the 

4 information by the public, and recommendations on how 

5 to improve data collection.’’. 

6 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

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

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

9 end the following: 

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

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

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

12 every 2 years thereafter, the Under Secretary of Com13 merce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United 

14 States Patent and Trademark Office shall submit to Con15 gress the biennial report required under section 124(e) of 

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

Æ 


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