II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4210 

To amend title 35, United States Code, to establish a competition to award 

certificates that can be redeemed to accelerate certain matters at the 

United States Patent and Trademark Office, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 12, 2022 

Mr. LEAHY (for himself and Mr. GRASSLEY) introduced the following bill; 

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

A BILL 

To amend title 35, United States Code, to establish a competition to award certificates that can be redeemed to 

accelerate certain matters at the United States Patent 

and Trademark Office, 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 ‘‘Patents for Humanity 

5 Act of 2022’’. 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
2 

•S 4210 IS

1 SEC. 2. AWARD OF CERTIFICATES TO ACCELERATE CER2 TAIN MATTERS AT THE PATENT AND TRADE3 MARK OFFICE. 

4 (a) AWARD.—Chapter 2 of title 35, United States 

5 Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘§ 28. Award of certificates to accelerate certain mat7 ters at the Patent and Trademark Office 

8 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘eligible 

9 entity’ means an entity— 

10 ‘‘(1) the application of which submitted under 

11 subsection (d) is with respect to a patent that ad12 dresses a humanitarian issue; and 

13 ‘‘(2) that, pursuant to subsection (e)(1), is eli14 gible to receive an award under the competition es15 tablished under subsection (b). 

16 ‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a com17 petition, to be held not less frequently than biennially, to 

18 award eligible entities certificates that can be redeemed 

19 to accelerate one of the following matters: 

20 ‘‘(1) An ex parte reexamination proceeding, in21 cluding 1 appeal to the Patent Trial and Appeal 

22 Board from that proceeding. 

23 ‘‘(2) An application for a patent, including 1 

24 appeal to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board from 

25 that application. 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
3 

•S 4210 IS

1 ‘‘(3) An appeal to the Patent Trial and Appeal 

2 Board of a claim twice rejected in a patent applica3 tion or reissue application or finally rejected in an 

4 ex parte reexamination, without accelerating the un5 derlying matter that generated the appeal. 

6 ‘‘(4) A matter identified under subsection 

7 (e)(4). 

8 ‘‘(c) ADMINISTRATION.—The Director shall admin9 ister the competition established under subsection (b). 

10 ‘‘(d) APPLICATION.—An eligible entity seeking an 

11 award under subsection (b) shall submit to the Director 

12 an application, at such time, in such manner, and con13 taining such information as the Director may require. 

14 ‘‘(e) RULEMAKING AUTHORITY.—With respect to the 

15 competition established under subsection (b), the Director 

16 shall conduct a rulemaking proceeding to promulgate rules 

17 on the— 

18 ‘‘(1) entities that are eligible to receive an 

19 award under the competition; 

20 ‘‘(2) process and metrics by which applications 

21 submitted under subsection (d) are judged, including 

22 the criteria for selecting judges for the competition; 

23 ‘‘(3) factors that will be considered in selecting 

24 the eligible entities that receive awards under the 

25 competition; and 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
4 

•S 4210 IS

1 ‘‘(4) additional matters for which a certificate 

2 described in subsection (b) may be awarded. 

3 ‘‘(f) PROMOTION OF COMPETITION.—The Director 

4 shall promote the competition established under sub5 section (b) through the satellite offices established pursu6 ant to section 1(b). 

7 ‘‘(g) TREATMENT AS SUCCESSOR.—The competition 

8 established under subsection (b) shall be treated as a suc9 cessor to the Patents for Humanity Program (established 

10 in the notice entitled ‘Humanitarian Awards Pilot Pro11 gram’, published at 77 Fed. Reg. 6544 (February 8, 

12 2012)).’’. 

13 (b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec14 tion, or the amendments made by this section, may be con15 strued as prohibiting the Under Secretary of Commerce 

16 for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States 

17 Patent and Trademark Office from administering the 

18 competition established under section 28 of title 35, 

19 United States Code, as added by subsection (a), before 

20 the date on which all rules are promulgated under the 

21 rulemaking proceeding required by subsection (e) of such 

22 section 28. 

23 (c) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

24 The table of sections for chapter 2 of title 35, United 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
5 

•S 4210 IS

1 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol2 lowing: 

‘‘28. Award of certificates to accelerate certain matters at the Patent and 

Trademark Office.’’. 

Æ 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB