IDEA Act
Bill: S.632 | Sponsor: Sen. Hirono, Mazie K. (D-HI)
Policy area: Commerce

Summary:
Inventor Diversity for Economic Advancement Act of 2021 or the IDEA Act
This bill requires the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to request demographic information from the inventor on each patent application submitted to the USPTO.
Inventors shall not be required to provide the requested information, which shall include gender, race, and military or veteran status.
The USPTO shall (1) publish an annual public report about the collected data, including the collected data broken down by the types of technology covered by the patent applications; and (2) make the underlying data publicly available.

To amend chapter 11 of title 35, United States Code, to require the 
 voluntary collection of demographic information for patent inventors, 
                        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 ``Inventor Diversity for Economic 
Advancement Act of 2021'' or the ``IDEA Act''.

SEC. 2. COLLECTION OF DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION FOR PATENT INVENTORS.

    (a) Amendment.--Chapter 11 of title 35, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 124. Collection of demographic information for patent inventors
    ``(a) Voluntary Collection.--The Director shall provide for the 
collection of demographic information, including gender, race, military 
or veteran status, and any other demographic category that the Director 
determines appropriate, related to each inventor listed with an 
application for patent, that may be submitted voluntarily by that 
inventor.
    ``(b) Protection of Information.--The Director shall--
            ``(1) keep any information submitted under subsection (a) 
        confidential and separate from the application for patent; and
            ``(2) establish appropriate procedures to ensure--
                    ``(A) the confidentiality of any information 
                submitted under subsection (a); and
                    ``(B) that demographic information is not made 
                available to examiners or considered in the examination 
                of any application for patent.
    ``(c) Relation to Other Laws.--
            ``(1) Freedom of information act.--Any demographic 
        information submitted under subsection (a) shall be exempt from 
        disclosure under section 552(b)(3) of title 5.
            ``(2) Federal information policy law.--Subchapter I of 
        chapter 35 of title 44 shall not apply to the collection of 
        demographic information under subsection (a).
    ``(d) Publication of Demographic Information.--
            ``(1) Report required.--Not later than January 31 of each 
        year, the Director shall make publicly available a report that, 
        except as provided in paragraph (3)--
                    ``(A) includes the total number of patent 
                applications filed during the previous year 
                disaggregated--
                            ``(i) by demographic information described 
                        in subsection (a); and
                            ``(ii) by technology class number, 
                        technology class title, country of residence of 
                        the inventor, and State of residence of the 
                        inventor in the United States;
                    ``(B) includes the total number of patents issued 
                during the previous year disaggregated--
                            ``(i) by demographic information described 
                        in subsection (a); and
                            ``(ii) by technology class number, 
                        technology class title, country of residence of 
                        the inventor, and State of residence of the 
                        inventor in the United States; and
                    ``(C) includes a discussion of the data collection 
                methodology and summaries of the aggregate responses.
            ``(2) Data availability.--In conjunction with issuance of 
        the report under paragraph (1), the Director shall make 
        publicly available data based on the demographic information 
        collected under subsection (a) that, except as provided in 
        paragraph (3), allows the information to be cross-tabulated to 
        review subgroups.
            ``(3) Privacy.--The Director--
                    ``(A) may not include personally identifying 
                information in--
                            ``(i) the report made publicly available 
                        under paragraph (1); or
                            ``(ii) the data made publicly available 
                        under paragraph (2); and
                    ``(B) in making publicly available the report under 
                paragraph (1) and the data under paragraph (2), shall 
                anonymize any personally identifying information 
                related to the demographic information collected under 
                subsection (a).
    ``(e) Biennial Report.--The Director shall submit to Congress a 
biennial report that evaluates the data collection process under this 
section, ease of access to the information by the public, and 
recommendations on how to improve data collection.''.
    (b) Technical and Conforming Amendment.--The table of sections at 
the beginning of chapter 11 of title 35, United States Code, is amended 
by adding at the end the following:

        ``124. Collection of demographic information for patent 
                            inventors.''.
    (c) Deadline for Biennial Report.--Not later than 2 years after the 
date of enactment of this Act, and every 2 years thereafter, the Under 
Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the 
United States Patent and Trademark Office shall submit to Congress the 
biennial report required under section 124(e) of title 35, United 
States Code, as added by subsection (a).
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