IB 
Union Calendar No. 223 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5796 
[Report No. 117–302] 
To amend title 35, United States Code, to establish a competition to award 
certificates that can be redeemed to accelerate certain matters at the 
Patent and Trademark Office, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 1, 2021 
Mr. JEFFRIES (for himself and Mrs. SPARTZ) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
APRIL 27, 2022 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on November 1, 2021] 
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A BILL 
To amend title 35, United States Code, to establish a com-
petition to award certificates that can be redeemed to 
accelerate certain matters at the Patent and Trademark 
Office, and for other purposes. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Patents for Humanity 
Act of 2021’’. 
SEC. 2. AWARD OF CERTIFICATES TO ACCELERATE CERTAIN 
MATTERS AT THE PATENT AND TRADEMARK 
OFFICE. 
(a) AWARD.—Chapter 2 of title 35, United States 
Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘§ 28. Award of certificates to accelerate certain mat-
ters at the Patent and Trademark Office 
‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a com-
petition, to be held not less frequently than biennially, to 
award eligible entities certificates that can be redeemed to 
accelerate one of the following matters: 
‘‘(1) An ex parte reexamination proceeding, in-
cluding one appeal to the Patent Trial and Appeal 
Board from that proceeding. 
‘‘(2) An application for a patent, including one 
appeal to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board from 
that application. 
‘‘(3) An appeal to the Patent Trial and Appeal 
Board of a claim twice rejected in a patent applica-
tion or reissue application or finally rejected in an 
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ex parte reexamination, without accelerating the un-
derlying matter which generated the appeal. 
‘‘(4) A matter identified under subsection (d)(4). 
‘‘(b) ADMINISTRATION.—The Director shall administer 
the competition established by subsection (a). 
‘‘(c) APPLICATION.—An eligible entity seeking an 
award under subsection (a) shall submit to the Director an 
application, at such time, in such manner, and containing 
such information as the Director may require. 
‘‘(d) RULEMAKING AUTHORITY.—With respect to the 
competition established by subsection (a), the Director shall 
conduct a rulemaking proceeding to promulgate rules on 
the— 
‘‘(1) entities eligible to receive an award; 
‘‘(2) process and metrics by which applications 
are judged, including the criteria for selecting judges 
for the competition; 
‘‘(3) factors that will be considered in selecting 
the eligible entities that receive an award; and 
‘‘(4) additional matters for which a certificate 
described under subsection (a) may be awarded. 
‘‘(e) PROMOTION
OF COMPETITION.—The Director 
shall promote the competition through the satellite offices 
established pursuant to section 1. 
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‘‘(f) TREATMENT AS SUCCESSOR.—The competition es-
tablished under subsection (a) shall be treated as a successor 
to the Patents for Humanity Program (established in the 
notice entitled ‘Humanitarian Awards Pilot Program’, 
published at 77 Fed. Reg. 6544 (February 8, 2012)). 
‘‘(g) ELIGIBLE ENTITY DEFINED.—In this section, the 
term ‘eligible entity’ means a entity that— 
‘‘(1) submits an application under subsection (c) 
for a patent that addresses a humanitarian issue; and 
‘‘(2) is eligible to receive an award under sub-
section (d)(1).’’. 
(b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this section, 
or the amendments made by this section, may be construed 
as prohibiting the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intel-
lectual Property and Director of the United States Patent 
and Trademark Office from administering the competition 
established by section 28 of title 35, United States Code, 
as added by subsection (a), before the date on which all rules 
are promulgated under the rulemaking proceeding required 
by subsection (d) of such section. 
(c) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The 
table of sections at the beginning of chapter 2 of title 35, 
United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 
following: 
‘‘28. Award of certificates to accelerate certain matters at the Patent and Trade-
mark Office.’’. 
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Union Calendar No. 223 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5796 
[Report No. 117–302] 
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 
Patent and Trademark Office, and for other pur-
poses. 
APRIL 27, 2022 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 
and ordered to be printed 
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