II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2281 

To amend chapter 11 of title 35, United States Code, to require the voluntary 

collection of demographic information for patent applications, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 25, 2019 

Ms. HIRONO (for herself and Mr. TILLIS) 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 applications, 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 2019’’ or the ‘‘IDEA Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. COLLECTION OF DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION FOR 

2 PATENT APPLICATIONS. 

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

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

6 ‘‘§ 124. Collection of demographic information for 

7 patent applications 

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

9 provide for the collection of demographic information, in10 cluding gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual ori11 entation, age, military or veterans status, disability (as de12 fined in section 3 of the Americans with Disabilities Act 

13 of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12102)), education level attained, and 

14 income level, related to each inventor listed with an appli15 cation for patent, that may be submitted voluntarily by 

16 that inventor. 

17 ‘‘(b) ACCESS TO INFORMATION.—Any information 

18 submitted under subsection (a) shall be kept confidential 

19 and separate from the application for patent. The Director 

20 shall establish appropriate procedures to ensure the con21 fidentiality of any information submitted under subsection 

22 (a) and to ensure that demographic information is not in23 cluded when the application for patent is examined. 

24 ‘‘(c) PUBLICATION OF DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMA25 TION.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than Jan2 uary 31 of each year, the Director shall publish a re3 port that includes, except as provided in paragraph 

4 (2), the following: 

5 ‘‘(A) The total number of patent applica6 tions filed during the previous year 

7 disaggregated by demographic information de8 scribed in subsection (a) and by class number 

9 and title. 

10 ‘‘(B) The total number of patents issued 

11 during the previous year disaggregated by de12 mographic information described in subsection 

13 (a) and by class number and title. 

14 ‘‘(2) PRIVACY.—Personally identifying informa15 tion may not be included in the report described in 

16 paragraph (1). 

17 ‘‘(3) FORMAT.—The report described in para18 graph (1) shall be made available in a format that 

19 allows the demographic information to be cross-tab20 ulated to review subgroups. 

21 ‘‘(4) DATA AVAILABILITY.—The Director shall 

22 make the data underlying the report described in 

23 paragraph (1) publicly available online in a format 

24 that is sortable by demographic information de25 scribed in subsection (a), class number, and title. 


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1 ‘‘(d) BIANNUAL REPORT.—The Director shall submit 

2 to Congress a biannual 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 new item: 

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

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

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

12 and 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 biannual report required pursuant to section 

16 124(d) of title 35, United States Code, as added by sub17 section (a). 

Æ 


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