I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5796 
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 
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. 
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’’. 
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SEC. 2. AWARD OF CERTIFICATES TO ACCELERATE CER-
TAIN MATTERS AT THE PATENT AND TRADE-
MARK 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 
ex parte reexamination, without accelerating the un-
derlying matter which generated the appeal. 
‘‘(4) A matter identified under the rulemaking 
conducted under subsection (d)(4). 
‘‘(b) ADMINISTRATION.—The Director shall admin-
ister the competition established by subsection (a). 
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‘‘(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 con-
taining 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 of title 35, United States 
Code. 
‘‘(f) TREATMENT AS SUCCESSOR.—The competition 
established under subsection (a) shall be treated as a suc-
cessor to the Patents for Humanity Program (established 
in the notice entitled ‘Humanitarian Awards Pilot Pro-
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