II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4713 

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 11 (legislative day, JULY 10), 2024 

Ms. HIRONO (for herself, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. COONS, Mr. 

BLUMENTHAL, Mr. PADILLA, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, and Mr. GRASSLEY) 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 2024’’ 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 residing in the 

13 United States who is listed with an application for patent, 

14 that may be submitted voluntarily by 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) DIRECT SUBMISSION BY INVENTORS.— 

2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out subsection 

3 (a), the Director is authorized to implement a sys4 tem to collect demographic information directly from 

5 an inventor on a voluntary basis. 

6 ‘‘(2) AVOIDING REPEATED COLLECTION.—In 

7 implementing a system under paragraph (1), the Di8 rector shall make reasonable efforts to design the 

9 system to avoid repeated collection of the same in10 formation from each inventor on subsequent applica11 tions for patents. 

12 ‘‘(3) COLLECTION OF CONTACT INFORMA13 TION.—In implementing a system under paragraph 

14 (1), the Director shall design the system to capture 

15 the information necessary to directly reach inven16 tors. 

17 ‘‘(d) RELATION TO OTHER LAWS.— 

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

19 demographic information submitted under subsection 

20 (a) shall be exempt from disclosure under section 

21 552(b)(3) of title 5. 

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

23 Subchapter I of chapter 35 of title 44 shall not 

24 apply to the collection of demographic information 

25 under subsection (a). 


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1 ‘‘(e) PUBLICATION OF DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMA2 TION.— 

3 ‘‘(1) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than 18 

4 months after the date on which the Director pub5 lishes in the Federal Register a notice relating to the 

6 demographic information described in subsection (a), 

7 in accordance with section 552a(e)(4) of title 5, and 

8 not later than January 31 of each year thereafter, 

9 the Director shall make publicly available a report 

10 that, except as provided in 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, and State of resi18 dence of the inventor in the United States; 

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

20 issued during the previous year disaggregated— 

21 ‘‘(i) by demographic information de22 scribed in subsection (a); and 

23 ‘‘(ii) by technology class number, 

24 technology class title, and State of resiVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:05 Aug 15, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4713.IS S4713

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1 dence of the inventor in the United States; 

2 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, in making pub14 licly available the report under paragraph (1) and 

15 the data under paragraph (2)— 

16 ‘‘(A) subject to subparagraph (B) of this 

17 paragraph, shall anonymize any personally iden18 tifying information related to the demographic 

19 information collected under subsection (a); and 

20 ‘‘(B) may omit any personally identifying 

21 information that cannot reasonably be 

22 anonymized. 

23 ‘‘(f) BIENNIAL REPORT.—Not later than 2 years 

24 after the date on which the Director publishes in the Fed25 eral Register a notice relating to the demographic inforVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:05 Aug 15, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4713.IS S4713

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1 mation described in subsection (a), in accordance with sec2 tion 552a(e)(4) of title 5, and not later than March 31 

3 of every other year thereafter, the Director shall submit 

4 to Congress a biennial report that evaluates the data col5 lection process under this section, ease of access to the 

6 information by the public, and recommendations on how 

7 to improve data collection.’’. 

8 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

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

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

11 end the following: 

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

Æ 


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