II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 5537 

To require the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and 

Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office to establish 

and carry out a pilot program to expedite the examination of applications 

for certain patents, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 16, 2024 

Mrs. BLACKBURN (for herself and Mr. WELCH) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To require the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual 

Property and Director of the United States Patent and 

Trademark Office to establish and carry out a pilot 

program to expedite the examination of applications for 

certain patents, 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 ‘‘Leadership in Critical 

5 and Emerging Technologies Act’’ or the ‘‘Leadership in 

6 CET Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PILOT PROGRAM FOR EXPEDITING EXAMINATION 

2 OF CERTAIN CRITICAL AND EMERGING TECH3 NOLOGY PATENT APPLICATIONS. 

4 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

5 (1) COVERED APPLICATION.—The term ‘‘cov6 ered application’’ means an application for patent 

7 with respect to an eligible critical or emerging tech8 nology. 

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

10 the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual 

11 Property and Director of the Office. 

12 (3) ELIGIBLE CRITICAL OR EMERGING TECH13 NOLOGY.—The term ‘‘eligible critical or emerging 

14 technology’’ means— 

15 (A) artificial intelligence, as defined in sec16 tion 5002 of the National Artificial Intelligence 

17 Initiative Act of 2020 (15 U.S.C. 9401); 

18 (B) microelectronics, as defined in section 

19 10731(a) of the Research and Development, 

20 Competition, and Innovation Act (42 U.S.C. 

21 19331(a)); or 

22 (C) quantum information science, as de23 fined in section 2 of the National Quantum Ini24 tiative Act (15 U.S.C. 8801). 

25 (4) EXPEDITE.—The term ‘‘expedite’’ means, 

26 with respect to a covered application, to advance 


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1 that covered application out of turn through the use 

2 of a petition to make special. 

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

4 United States Patent and Trademark Office. 

5 (6) PILOT PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘pilot pro6 gram’’ means the pilot program established under 

7 subsection (b). 

8 (b) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 1 year after 

9 the date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall estab10 lish a pilot program to expedite the examination, under 

11 section 131 of title 35, United States Code, of covered ap12 plications. 

13 (c) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the pilot program 

14 shall be to encourage innovation by, and the leadership 

15 of, the United States with respect to critical or emerging 

16 technologies by ensuring that covered applications receive 

17 prompt consideration. 

18 (d) IMPLEMENTATION.—In carrying out the pilot 

19 program, the Director— 

20 (1) shall establish the process by which covered 

21 applications are expedited; 

22 (2) may waive— 

23 (A) the petition fee described in section 

24 1.102(d) of title 37, Code of Federal Regula25 tions, or any successor regulation; or 


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1 (B) any other requirement of the Office re2 lating to the accelerated examination program 

3 or the prioritized examination program; and 

4 (3) may establish reasonable limitations on the 

5 number of covered applications that an applicant 

6 may submit for expedited examination under the 

7 pilot program. 

8 (e) QUALIFYING APPLICATIONS.—To best achieve the 

9 purpose of the pilot program, the Director shall ensure 

10 that a covered application satisfies the following require11 ments to qualify for the pilot program: 

12 (1) The applicant submitting the covered appli13 cation is— 

14 (A) an entity that is incorporated in the 

15 United States; or 

16 (B) an inventor who resides in the United 

17 States. 

18 (2) The covered application is a noncontinuing, 

19 original, and nonprovisional patent application. 

20 (f) TERMINATION.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—The pilot program shall ter22 minate on the earlier of the following: 

23 (A) The date that is 5 years after the date 

24 on which the Director first issues a patent for 


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1 an invention claimed in a covered application 

2 that is expedited under the pilot program. 

3 (B) The date on which the Director has 

4 accepted 10,000 covered applications for par5 ticipation in the pilot program, without regard 

6 to whether those covered applications have been 

7 expedited under the pilot program. 

8 (2) RENEWAL.—If the pilot program terminates 

9 under paragraph (1)(B), the Director may renew the 

10 pilot program for the shorter of the following: 

11 (A) An additional 5-year period. 

12 (B) An additional period— 

13 (i) beginning on the date on which the 

14 pilot program terminates under paragraph 

15 (1)(B); and 

16 (ii) ending on the date on which the 

17 Director has accepted an additional 10,000 

18 covered applications for participation in 

19 the pilot program, without regard to 

20 whether those covered applications have 

21 been expedited under the pilot program. 

22 (3) NOTICE OF RENEWAL.—The Director shall 

23 notify Congress of the intent of the Director to 

24 renew the pilot program under paragraph (2) not 


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1 later than the date that is the earlier of the fol2 lowing: 

3 (A) The date that is 60 days before the 

4 date described in paragraph (1)(A). 

5 (B) The date that is 30 days after the date 

6 on which the Director has accepted 8,000 cov7 ered applications for participation in the pilot 

8 program, without regard to whether those cov9 ered applications have been expedited under the 

10 pilot program. 

11 (g) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION.—The 

12 Director shall make publicly available in an easily acces13 sible location on the website of the Office information 

14 about the pilot program, including— 

15 (1) the number of covered applications received 

16 by the Director for participation in the pilot pro17 gram; 

18 (2) the number of covered applications de19 scribed in paragraph (1) that the Director has ac20 cepted for participation in the pilot program; and 

21 (3) the number of patents that have been issued 

22 for inventions claimed in covered applications expe23 dited under the pilot program. 

24 (h) REPORT TO CONGRESS.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

2 after the date on which the pilot program terminates 

3 (including any renewal of the pilot program under 

4 subsection (f)(2)), the Director shall submit to Con5 gress a report that assesses the impact and effective6 ness of the pilot program based on all available data. 

7 (2) APPLICABILITY.—The collection of any data 

8 for the purposes of carrying out paragraph (1) shall 

9 be exempt from subchapter I of chapter 35 of title 

10 44, United States Code (commonly referred to as 

11 the ‘‘Paperwork Reduction Act’’). 

Æ 


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