H. R. 5796 
One Hundred Seventeenth Congress 
of the 
United States of America 
AT THE SECOND SESSION 
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday, 
the third day of January, two thousand and twenty-two 
An Act 
To amend title 35, United States Code, to establish a competition to award certifi-
cates 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 Representatives 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 
2022’’. 
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 matters at 
the Patent and Trademark Office 
‘‘(a) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘eligible entity’ 
means an entity that— 
‘‘(1) submits an application under subsection (d) for a patent 
that addresses a humanitarian issue; and 
‘‘(2) meets the requirements specified by the Director. 
‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a competition, 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, including 1 
appeal to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board from that pro-
ceeding. 
‘‘(2) An application for a patent, including 1 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 application or reissue applica-
tion or finally rejected in an ex parte reexamination, without 
accelerating the underlying matter that generated the appeal. 
‘‘(4) A matter identified by the Director. 
‘‘(c) ADMINISTRATION.—The Director shall administer the com-
petition established under subsection (b). 
‘‘(d) APPLICATION.—An entity seeking an award under sub-
section (b) shall submit to the Director an application at such 
time, in such manner, and containing such information as the 
Director may require.
H. R. 5796—2 
‘‘(e) PROMOTION OF COMPETITION.—The Director shall promote 
the competition established under subsection (b) through the sat-
ellite offices established pursuant to section 1. 
‘‘(f) TREATMENT AS SUCCESSOR.—The competition established 
under subsection (b) shall be treated as a successor to the Patents 
for Humanity Program (established in the notice entitled ‘Humani-
tarian Awards Pilot Program’, published at 77 Fed. Reg. 6544 
(February 8, 2012)).’’. 
(b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this section, or the 
amendments made by this section, may be construed as affecting 
any action taken by the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellec-
tual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trade-
mark Office before the date of enactment of this Act with respect 
to the administration of the Patents for Humanity Program estab-
lished in the notice entitled ‘‘Humanitarian Awards Pilot Program’’, 
published at 77 Fed. Reg. 6544 (February 8, 2012). 
(c) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of 
sections for 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 Trademark 
Office.’’. 
Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.